Maltese Falcon and Femme Noir

OH NO SHE DIDN’T!

NOIR WOMEN

            Film Noir has become a style that isn’t equated to a genre. In fact, Noir is far from a stylized genre because its thematic structures are so variant. Yet, there is a recognition of Noir elements in mid-twentieth century films that “portray a world of darkness.” These dramatic elements are cinematographic features such as scenes lit at night, deep thought and inner turmoil, romantic narratives, and non-linear story telling. Maltese Falcon explores this through the use of the villain female character. Specifically, Noir highlights the power and manipulative nature of female characters; Femme Noir.

            The bad woman who seduces a man to do bad things is none other than what we consider to be femme fatale. O’Shaughnessy entrances Spade in her charms and through her lies and deceits convinces him to do things against his normal character. Though her influence on him is overpowering, the fatal trap she has laid out backfires and the prison she has created throughout the film becomes a literal prison. This prison is a stylized product of noir cinematography to capture the emotional roller coaster and dark, unknowable nature of the femme fatale. The low-key lighting and unusual camera angles emphasize the nature of her emotions, tactics, etc. Assumed to be the most powerful female in the film by use of her charms to lure Spade to fatal scenarios, she cries, lies, and turns away to reveal so that she is actually manipulating others to her will. But in fact, she is trapped in her own emotional prison. Vertical lighting conveys this prison. In a particular scene, she wears striped pajamas, the furniture is striped, and the slivers of light coming through the blinds are much like cell bars. At the end of the film, there are literal bars on the elevator cage when she is taken in for custody, apparently on her way to prison and eventually execution.

            Though O’Shaughnessy, exaggerates her inner turmoil, the camera highlights these features by contrasting her character among other female characters. Possibly the most simply dressed female character, and yet her face speaks volumes of deep thought and wild emotion. Close ups of her grasp the dark tension inside of her character. Shadows on the face, clothing that creates specific angles, and camera angles makes her appear lost, confused, and tormented by something that isn’t quite revealed until Spade has adopted some of the emotional complexity much like O’Shaughnessy. The narrative structure dictates the psychological and moral disorientation that ties back to Freudian psychoanalysis; repression, fear, etc. O’Shaughnessy is then constructed by the views of women during this historical time period. The complicated nature of her character is designed by these fluctuating and uncontrollable emotions that possess her to be fatal. Downward camera angles or profile camera angles evoke pity and sorrow, along with the shadows that darken her conflicting emotions. But even love won’t save her now.

            Noir tends to eliminate the value of love and leans towards justice; justice in the sense of finding truth. Near the end of the film, O’Shaughnessy pleads to Spade in the name of love. Kisses, charm, and manipulative tears won’t save her. Not only is Spade a detective, but lies and deceit are not justified through love. The act of the femme fatal was fatal to her. The final battle between O’Shaughnessy and Spade is an emotional roller coaster. Spade dominates O’Shaughnessy, as she crumbles. From camera angles to blocking, she cannot hold her ground as he tears at her for the truth. Spade turns her in regardless of his feelings for her. His personal code and dedication to justice is how he sees the world. Once he discovers that she killed his partner to implicate her unwanted partner (in order to keep that Falcon to herself), Spade avenges his murder.

The femme fatale is beautiful, manipulative, and dangerous. O’Shaughnessy is a compulsive liar when she tries to use her feminine wiles to charm Spade into believing what she says and doing what she wants. As the beginnings of femme noir:

  

“The quintessential femme fatale of film noir uses her sexual attractiveness and ruthless cunning to manipulate men in order to gain power, independence, money, or all three at once. She rejects the conventional roles of devoted wife and loving mother that mainstream society prescribes for women, and in the end her transgression of social norms leads to her own downfall. Film noir's portrayal of the femme fatale, therefore, would seem to support the existing social order — and particularly its rigidly defined gender roles — by building up the powerful, independent woman, only to punish her in the end.

But a closer look at film noir suggests an opposite interpretation. Even when it depicts women as dangerous and worthy of destruction, film noir also shows that women are confined by the roles traditionally open to them — that their destructive struggle for independence is a response to the restrictions that men place on them. Moreover, these films view the entire world — not just independent women — as dangerous, corrupt, and irrational.” (http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp)

This commentary on society is a reflection of the emotional state of the time period; World War II. The uncontrollable, manipulative nature of Germany at this time overshadowed most of Europe. The emotional and physical havoc of the war was not justified by reason. Until America and Britain stood ground and found back, justice prevailed. In fact, the mystery and fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a symbol because once it was found, lives were no longer lost and fights were no longer fought. The struggle for freedom and independence for women remained a battle and yet their corruption destroyed the very rebellion of the ideal female.

            Is it possible that Noir could be stylized by anything other than a “dangerous, corrupt, and irrational” female character? Is the emergence of the femme fatal what draws the tension and darkness into most Noir films so that erotic and emotional characters are the exact elements necessary for such cinematic and thematic designs? I believe that femme fatal is a crucial and integral stylistic component of Noir. The reflection of the characters of women in plot and design construction elaborates the thematic points of Noir; “to portray a world of darkness.”