Voice-overs and Flashback in Film Noir - Essay Example

? Voice-overs and Flashback in Film Noir One of the stylistic features common to many noir films is the use of extraordinary narrative devices like voice-overs and flashback sequences. These structural elements are included to underscore or otherwise complement thematic elements of the film. The period of film noir, the 40s and early 50s, was also the time when Freudian influence on psychological studies was strident. The use of voice-overs then, became a way of representing the psychological, inner realm of the characters that could not otherwise be captured in the plot. Flashbacks too became an effective medium of remembering and recreating the past, another significant activity in psychoanalytic practice. Apart from the psychological dimension, voice-overs could also be used to emphasize the eerie or dark tone of noir films. With the right tone, the narratorial voice could easily intensify the feeling of doom and generally dark settings of the typical noir film. Flashbacks were also useful in creating suspense or experimenting with the narrative flow, allowing for creative use of plot. This paper will seek to further explore the role played by these two specific stylistic devices with reference to three films: Double Indemnity (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) and D.O.A (1950). Double Indemnity has a similar opening to D.O.A with the film starting in medias res to reveal a harassed-looking William Neff enter his office room and begin recording his ‘confession’ addressed to Keyes on his Dictaphone. The confession triggers off the flashback which presumably will explain the events that lead up to the murder that Neff has just confessed to. Interestingly, just a few minutes into this flashback and the confession of Neff also appears as a voice-over superimposed over the past retelling of events. This film employs both devices then, to build-up its atmosphere. The first of the flashbacks serves to describe what can already be seen on the screen, but with added detail like how the room smelled and how the sunlight made the dust visible. More importantly, it allows access to Neff’s mind and his initial impressions of Phyllis Dietrichson. This voice-over and the next also let the audience know the level of engagement with the crime that Neff had at the beginning and how the plan to murder Dietrichson is initiated entirely by his wife. However, the voice-over that marks the return of the narrative from the past back into the present, with Neff still at the Dictaphone, reveals to the audience that Neff too had been thinking about committing murder since as an insurance agent he believes: ‘In this business you can’t sleep for trying to figure out all the tricks they could pull on you.’ Other than tell us about who did what in the murder plot, the voice-overs also give us significant insight into the criminal’s mind – in this case, Walter Neff’s. As said in the introduction, this was a period of great faith in Freudian psychoanalysis and the idea of exploring one’s sub-conscious was quite popular. The Dictaphone-taped ‘confession’ acts as catharsis for expunging guilt. This is especially evident when Walter says that although he knew everything had gone off perfectly he still felt that it could all go wrong. He claims to not be able to hear his own footsteps; that he was walking like a ‘dead man.’ This is a classic instance of the psychoanalytic notion of guilt becoming the driving force behind a person’s actions and being the ultimate reason for that person to give himself or herself up. The Big Sleep does not use either voiceovers or flashbacks but there are several silences in the plot where Marlowe is seen tailing or waiting for action to happen, which act as narrative ‘fillers’. Insights into Marlowe’s psyche are not spoken or recounted as clearly as in Double Indemnity but as Marlowe’s character is sketched out to be hard-boiled but honest, what he says in sincerity can be taken by the audience to be true. For instance, he reveals right away that he thinks Mrs. Vivian Rutledge is ‘wonderful’ and that he is attracted to her. Marlowe’s feelings her stay the same right till the end when he admits his love for Vivian to her. In this case then, because of a tighter plot structure and an uncomplicated, more open protagonist, the devices of flashback and voice-over are not really required to build up the noir element. In D.O.A however, the flashback is an important device. The elaborate flashback sequence begins right after the sudden in medias res beginning with the protagonist entering the police station to report his own murder. The police who appear to have been expecting him, ask him to continue telling his story which prompts the flashback. The flashback, unlike the opening of the film, follows a conventional beginning to end narrative structure. In this film, this extended flashback sequence is of crucial importance to the storyline. First, the actual plot unfolds entirely in flashback. Starting from the beginning, the protagonist, Frank Bigelow, is introduced to the audience. Once his basic credentials are established – he is an accountant working in the town of ‘Banning’ and has a secretary/girlfriend in Paula Gibson – we then get to follow him on his vacation in San Francisco, which will also turn out to be his last. Through this section of the flashback, we get to see Bigelow’s need to have a good time by himself, away from his girlfriend. His flirtatious side is apparent as he attends a party where he knows no one and makes conversation with attractive strangers. This unfortunately also brings about his bizarre and untimely death as it is at this very party that someone slips him the toxic drug. Apart from revealing hidden sides to the protagonist’s character and important plot elements (like when the lethal drug was administered), the flashback also shows us the protagonist’s inner turmoil. For instance, right after the second doctor confirms that Bigelow is about to die, he runs frantically down the road in his desperation. After this, there appears a medley of scenes, rather mundane in nature ordinarily, but made significant by the recent disclosure of Bigelow’s condition. The sun in his eyes, the girl meeting her partner, the child playing, each of these scenes Bigelow looks at with a newfound sense of loss and pathos. In terms of plot no real action or movement forward takes place but there is an emphasis on the poignancy of the situation that including these snippets in the flashback underscores. In the rest of the movie, the flashback is primarily used to reveal, little by little, the events that lead up to the end of Bigelow which the audience already knows about. The flashback in D.O.A then, is primarily a plot device used to maintain suspense even when the conclusion is foretold. Through the examples of these three films we see how structural devices like voice-overs and flashback sequences can be used to pace the plot, reveal crucial plot elements, allow access to the characters’ psyche, heighten the suspense or atmospheric gloom typical of the film noir. Even without using specifically these devices, like in The Big Sleep, film noir finds ways of narrating the inner workings of the ‘hard-boiled’ protagonist while the film progresses. The themes of these movies involving crime and murder in a post-war cynical and depressive era (Schrader) are further intensified in their potential to horrify and complemented by the use of these stylistic devices. Works Cited D.O.A. Dir. Rudolph Mate. United Artists, 1950. Film. Double Indemnity. Dir. Howard Hawks. Warner Bros., 1946. Film. The Big Sleep. Dir. Billy Wilder. Paramount Pictures, 1944. Film. Schrader, Paul. ‘Notes on Film Noir.’ Mtime. Web. 3 Nov 2012. ‘Understanding The Big Sleep.’ Reel Classics. 1998. PDF. Read More