Film noir is a cinematic term used to describe stylised Hollywood ‘B’ movies, derived mainly from crime thrillers or gangster pictures that emphasise cynicism, pessimism, unease and disquiet.
The classic period of American film noir is generally regarded as the 1940s and 1950s. It emerged from a period of economic and political instability – the second World War and the Cold War – at a time when the US was struggling to maintain a coherent identity for itself against threats that were both real and imagined, leading to paranoia and insecurity.
In addition, the place of men in American society was being questioned as soldiers returned to civilian life, occasioning a further sense of anxiety in relation to both masculine and national identity.
Is Film Noir a genre?
While often referred to as a genre, film noir might be better described as a visual style. It does possess many characteristics associated with genre, such as recurring themes, settings, and character types, but it is also defined by its distinctive visual style and mood.
Where did the term "Film Noir" originate?
The term film noir, which is French for ‘black’ or ‘dark film’, was first applied to Hollywood films by French film critics in 1946. After the liberation of France from German occupation in 1944, French cinemas were inundated with Hollywood films, including a distinctive type of thriller that resonated for critics with home grown detective novels which were known as roman noir.
Watching over five years’ worth of film in quick succession, it was easy for critics to see distinctive connections between many of these thrillers and the label film noir was adopted to capture the look and feel of these new films.
Although film noir was originally associated with American productions, the term has been used to describe films from around the world. Many films released from the 1960s onward share attributes with films noir of the classical period and are often referred to as 'neo-noir'.
Double Indemnity (1944)
What defines Film Noir?
By watching and studying these films, you start to see some common themes. These films are known for their use of high contrast black and white cinematography, low-key lighting, deep shadows and unsettling, canted camera angles, which conjure up a sense of trepidation and fear.
The stories and attitudes expressed in classic noir often derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression.
Film noirs emphasised cynicism and despair through intricate plots and characters, often exploring themes of moral ambiguity, corruption, and existential anguish.
The visual style
The visual style of film noir has its roots in 1920s German Expressionism, which made use of highly distorted sets and distinctive lighting effects to create a sense of alienation and mental distress associated with the trauma of the first World War.
A further influence was the pessimism of the films of the French Poetic Realist filmmakers who used a similar visual style to give expression to their anxieties as Europe moved towards war at the end of the 1930s.
Many of the personnel – filmmakers and technicians – working in both Germany and France fled to America in the late 1930s and early 1940s, taking with them their expertise and their specific stylistic approaches to the cinema. The visual style that defines film noir owes a significant debt to that of these émigrés.
The protagonists
Common archetypical protagonists in film noir include private investigators, plainclothes police officers, hapless grifters, law-abiding citizens lured into a life of crime, femme fatales, or simply characters who are victims of circumstance.
The intricate plots
Films noirs are pervaded by an atmosphere of gloom, suspicion, pessimism and a general feeling of unease and discontentment.
The 'city' is a prime location for film and is represented as seedy and corrupt. Streets are as shadowy as the characters themselves who are often side-lit to demonstrate moral ambiguity, the contrast between light and dark. This is duplicated in the complex plots often found in films noirs where the hero remains confused, in-the-dark until the very end of the film.
The femme fatale
Key to many film noirs is the figure of the femme fatale or ‘fatal woman’.
While the men in these films are often misogynistic in their attitudes, the films themselves are more complex than the treatment of women by their male protagonists might suggest. The films provide central roles for the femme fatale, and they are privileged as ‘active, intelligent, powerful, dominant’ and in control of their own sexuality.
Powerful women are at the heart of these films then, but they inevitably pay for daring to challenge the patriarchy by the narrative’s conclusion, frequently through death or by submission to the system through marriage. While many film noir plots involve the investigation of a crime, it is also women’s sexuality that is placed under scrutiny.
There is a contradiction at the centre of films noir, which requires that the strong, independent, sexual woman is contained and controlled to allay any potential threat to male dominance and the narrative quest for resolution and order. It should be noted that these films could be seen as a manifestation of male concern at women’s increasing economic and sexual independence — an effect of their contribution to the war effort during the early 1940s — and a fear of men’s own place in society as they came back into civilian life after the war.
Gilda (1946)
Famous examples of Film Noir
Classic examples of film noir include:
The Maltese Falcon (1941) — directed by John Huston, this film is often considered one of the greatest examples of film noir. It stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, who becomes entangled in a web of deceit and murder while searching for a valuable statuette.
Double Indemnity (1944) — directed by Billy Wilder, the film features Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman who gets involved in a murder plot with a femme fatale, played by Barbara Stanwyck. The film is renowned for its sharp dialogue as much for its dark themes.
Gilda (1946) — directed by Charles Vidor the film tells the story of a small-time gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) who discovers on employment at a Buenos Aires casino that his employer’s wife is his former lover. The film is best known for the sequence in which the film’s femme fatale Gilda, played by Rita Hayworth, sultrily sings the song, ‘Put the Blame on Mame’.
Out of the Past (1947) — directed by Jacques Tourneur, this film stars Robert Mitchum as a private investigator who is drawn into a dangerous world of crime and betrayal. The film has a complex narrative and is celebrated for its atmospheric cinematography.
Sunset Boulevard (1950) — directed by Billy Wilder, this well-known film tells the story of a struggling screenwriter who becomes involved with a faded silent film star. The film is a dark satire on the world of the Hollywood studios.
Touch of Evil (1958) — directed by Orson Welles, this film is often considered one of the last great examples of classic film noir. It features Welles as a corrupt police oTicer and Charlton Heston playing the role of a Mexican drug enforcement oTicer. It is known for its thrilling and accomplished opening sequence, which involves a lengthy and meticulously choreographed single take.
These films are all celebrated for their distinctive visual style, complex characters, and their exploration of dark and pessimistic themes.
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