Film Noir

What is Film Noir?

Film Noir is a term used by French critics to describe a type of film usually of a detective/crime genre. Film noir movies are marked by a mood of menace, pessimism, fatalism and cynical characters. The characters tend to be corrupt or desperate. Film Noir is a term used to describe crime dramas, particularly those that emphasise moral ambiguity. The films are characterised by low-key lighting and grim, bleak urban settings. Film Noir is the point of view, mood or tone of the film.

History of Film Noir

The earliest Film Noirs were around about the 1940s. The first detective film to use the shadowy noir style in a definitive way was ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and since the 40s Film Noir has developed and further progressed into a much loved part of the industry.

Themes

The main moods of film noir are desperation, guilt, moral corruption, ambiguity and bleakness. The protagonist character in Film Noir tends to be morally ambiguous low lives that belong in the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. The general story line tends to be elliptical, twisting and non-linear. The narratives are frequently complex and usually told with background music, witty dialogue, flashbacks and often a first person voice over. The dark inhumane side of human nature is expressed thematically through Film Noir. They emphasise the cynicism, doomed love and the brutal, shadowy, sadistic side of human experience. An oppressive atmosphere of futility, menace and defeat are stylised characteristics of film noir.

Characters

The typical characters in a Film Noir crime genre tend to consists of heroes or anti-heroes, corrupt characters and villains. They also include conflicted, hard-boiled detectives, police officers, gangsters, socio-paths or killers, petty criminals or murderers etc. Distinctively they are tarnished, obsessive, cynical, disillusioned, menacing, frightening and insecure characters struggling to survive and in the end ultimately losing. The protagonist in the film noir are usually driven by their human weakness or their past to repeat former mistakes.

Visual Style and Setting

Film Noir films are marked visually by depth of field camera work, deep focus, expressionistic lighting, juxtaposition of elements, jarring editing, ominous shadows, skewed camera angles and unbalanced compositions.  Settings often consist of low-key lightning and dark, claustrophobic gloomy appearances. Story locations are usually set in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and abandoned warehouses.

Narrative Devices

Narrative devices are used to create a relationship between the story and the plot. Flashbacks and voiceovers are persistent stylistic narrative elements of Film Noir. The narrative allows time and memory to come together leaving the audience in suspense what will occur/has occurred in the flashback story. The protagonist’s voice over is used to update the audience and progress of the film.

Iconography

Certain elements the audience expect to see in a film noir film are police, detectives, criminals, seductive females, murder and corruption. Items and settings that the audience expect to see are props such as guns, knives, dark dingy scenery and false love.

Sound

 A defining innovation of Film Noir was the sophisticated use of soundtrack. The main characters voice is often used as a voiceover for the film; this technique is used to present two versions of a single character simultaneously.