Double Indemnity is a 1944 Film Noir, directed by Billy Wilder. It starts Fred MacMurray as insurance salesman Walter Neff and Barbara Stanwyck as housewife Phyllis Dietrichson. After visiting the Dietrichson household to speak about insurance, Walter can't get Phyllis off his mind and is very happy when she appears at his apartment. They begin an affair, and Walter agrees to help Phyllis murder her husband and claim on the insurance. Being an insurance salesman, he assures her that they can get away with it. Of course, this does not go to plan and neither of the two end up happy, or alive. The film was based on the 1935 novella by James M. Cain. The term 'double indemnity' refers to clause in some life insurance policies that means the pay out is doubled when someone dies of an accidental death.
Double Indemnity is a perfect example of a classic Film Noir. Walter, the hapless hero, falls for Phyllis, the femme fatale, who leads him into crime and eventually death. Murder is a common storyline in Film Noirs, and is very present in this film. There is use of the famous Venetian blinds effect, and in Phyllis' final scene she sits in the dark with no light but that from her ciggarette, and a little coming through the windows.
Phyllis: We're both rotten. Walter: Only you're a little more rotten.
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