Double Indemnity: the Creator of the Cliche

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Double Indemnity: The Creator of the Cliche Double Indemnity is a taut movie, with no wasted motion and where every word spoken and hand gesture has a purpose. Double Indemnity is a film noir and, despite the fact that several people do not even acknowledge film noir as an actual movie genre, this film is one of the most perfect examples of it. Discussing this film with fellows has brought on complaints that the movie is rife with clichés. However, from where I am standing, between the year of it’s making and looking at what other film works were being put out there, Double Indemnity wrote the clichés. My main focus when watching this film was the relationship between Phyllis Dietrichson and Walter Neff’s characters. It is very easy to write off her feelings for him due to her clear motivations throughout the film. However, it seems that these change at the end when she has the opportunity to kill him but instead does not. She shoots him in the arm and, instead of finishing him off, she tells him that she could not bring herself to Rogoff 2 do it. She admits to using him this whole time, but now, somehow, she has fallen in love with him along the way. She never says or does anything without a certain amount of premeditation or calculation. It’s clear she has had the power this whole time. So why would she be speaking spontaneously now? Might she have been trying to win him back? In the past she had been completely successful in using her femininity and charm to manipulate whatever outcome she wanted from him. Also, she is a nurse. She probably could have fixed his arm herself, as bringing him to a hospital would have raised much suspicion. Her mistake, in my opinion, was that she clearly be underestimated how strongly Walter has recoiled from her. She knew he was overwrought with the guilt of helping her kill Lola’s father. After shooting Phyllis
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