Word count:  898

Felix Rouch

How does Wilder convey the characters and their relationships in the penultimate scene of Double Indemnity?

 

 

Some effective techniques Wider uses is lighting and certain props and mise-en-scene. A shadow of some sort is present throughout the whole scene, either on Walter, Phyllis or a part of the room. Shadows from the shutters could suggest that they are both in a trap of their own making and the as Walter walks in his whole figure is a shadow for a brief moment, Possibly suggesting that he is a killer in this particular scene. The way the lighting is used on Phyllis is also something to be noted, compared to Walter and how dark the rest of the room is, she is relatively lit up by the light. Combine this with her posture, and the audience can see that she is a classic femme fatale. She knows the lust of powerful men can get her what she wants and she feels as though she is still in control of Walter in this scene (as she had him kill her husband).

 

Wilder also uses lighting on Walter to convey his character. When he firsts sits down on the armrest, half of his face is covered by a shadow, this could suggest he has a dual personality. As he comes across as an honest working, polite sort of nice man, but he is also a killer and has been used by Phyllis to get what she wanted. This is represented by the shadow across his face. Phyllis’s cigarette again shows her arrogance in this situation, She still believes she can control Walter, just as she has done throughout the film. Her cigarette shows how relaxed she is in the situation despite her knowing that Walter has realised he is simply a small part of her plan to take her husbands money.

 

Wilder also uses effective shot types, framing and composition in this scene to portray these two characters. The first shot is of Walter walking in to the living room, for this shot Wilder uses a long shot to show off the dark side of both characters. Firstly we can see Walter on the left walking into the room and Phyllis on the right slouched in an arm chair smoking a cigarette, Walters figure is covered by a shadow for a majority of this shot and at one point his entire figure is a shadow. This tells the audience that throughout the film, he has been the real killer the whole time and he is about to kill again, Phyllis on the other hand is double crossing and manipulative. This is shown by her posture (as Walter realises that she doesn’t really love him) she still believes she can bend him into getting what she wants. The light on her can also been seen in this shot as it also trying to portray the fact she is a beautiful innocent women with classic good looks. I think this is one of the most prominent shots in the whole film as it shows the darkest sides of both characters in one shot. It is the framing of this shot which is what makes it so prominent.  

 

Another significant shot would be towards the end of the scene where Phyllis shoots Walter as he turns around. This again comes as no surprise that this part of the scene best shows off both character’s personalities and their relationship with each other. The shot of Walter being shot is a Noddy shot. After he is shot we see the surprise on his face when he realises that Phyllis has done what he had planned to do as soon as he walked in. The fact that Phyllis shot him shows that she saw their relationship as nothing (in her eyes) and he was just a pawn in her game, as well as this I believe the fact she shot him shows that she believed she was never the oppressed victim.  Even the way she moves and speaks shows she is a femme fatale and she knows it. She used her charm to get a rich husband and hide her guilt, and she then used the same tactics to lure in Walter to dispose of her husband and attempt to earn a fortune.

 

After Walter is shot and he walks over to Phyllis Wilder uses an over the shoulder shot as the two get close to each other. This is very significant as the over the shoulder shot focuses on Phyllis and Walters back is facing the camera. This is used to show Phyllis’s despair as she realises she is completely stumped. Now Walter has the gun and he knows she used him to get her husbands money and doesn’t really have any feelings towards Walter and she realises this. Even though she attempts to seduce Walter again by telling him she loves him, we can still see the resentment between them as they both want the other one dead. I think the camera is not showing Walters emotions because he is set on killing Phyllis. He knows he is the real murderer and he killed because he thought he would get something that he wanted and he realises this.  The over the shoulder shot is also used to show the emotion of Phyllis as she is killed and almost causes the audience to sympathise with her.