Mise-en-cene Analysis in Double Indemnity

 With reference to a sequence from one film from 1930-1961 that you have studied, analyse how mise-en-scène creates aesthetic effects. [10]

- Double Indemnity

Billy Wilder's 1944 film noir 'Double Indemnity' establishes the criminal, suspenseful, and enigmatic aesthetic of the film in its opening scene. Anchoring this construction, the film opens with a backlit figure walking towards the camera, blurred by a fog, and clothed in a typical dark suit and fedora hat of 1940s noir, connoting anonymity, the crutches establishing an idea of a broken man. After, a car races chaotically through the empty night-time setting of urban Los Angeles, the placement of fire within the first shot connoting a visual expression of a hellish underworld, a desperate criminality shown as the car runs through a stop sign and avoids crashing into an oncoming vehicle. This enigmatically criminal aesthetic is enhanced by the symbolic pathway of light and the car's driving away from it into the darkness of the street. Aiding this atmosphere of urgency, a railway maintenance sign lights up repeatedly as perhaps an aesthetic symbol of danger or warning to the spectator.

Slowly, the anonymous figure, Neff, exits the car to enter the building of the company he works for, his silhouette obscured under a large overcoat slumped over his shoulders, the hat as before hiding his features: already this costume connotes a visual aesthetic of taciturn, anonymity, and enigma, expressions typical of the noir aesthetic. An iconic double shadow is cast as he walks to an office, visually expressing the idea that he is a spilt, broken man, entering darkness as well as being followed by it. The lighting of a cigarette once at the desk, a typical trademark of film noir, adds to the rebellious criminal aesthetic as well as building tension with the growing spot of blood on his chest and sweaty complexion, both enhancing the mood of urgency.