#97: Double Indemnity

Double Indemnity (1944, Wilder)

If you look at Billy Wilder's four most acclaimed movies, you see a weird pattern. There's Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, which are very similar to each other, but completely different from Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, which are very similar to each other. Wilder's filmmaking style seems schizophrenic depending on whether Jack Lemmon is around.

When Lemmon is nowhere to be seen, Wilder films use the narration technique where you start at the end of the plot, then the main character spends the movie explaining how he got to this point. In the case of Double Indemnity, the movie starts with the main character confessing to a failed murder-insurance scam, telling his boss that he was right about the entire scheme, except wrong about the culprit. He is an insurance agent, and he thought because of his insider knowledge of the industry he could beat the system.

The wife of a rich man calls him over to buy an accident insurance policy from him. It's obvious from the beginning the plan was to allure him into using his expertise to kill her husband for her without her getting caught. Like any great manipulator, she not only convinces him to do it, she convinces him it was his idea. Together they pull off a very clever, almost seamless murder. Keyes, the absurdly brillaint detective-type he has for a boss, of course finds the seam and unravels the entire plot.

In true film-noir style, the scripting is verbose and intricate. Characters talk fast at each other, constantly question each others' motives and call out their lies. It's all really well written, and the characterization is wonderful. The wife is one of the first mainstream movie characters to use her sexuality to manipulate everybody without a trace of moral reservation, which at the time was so controversial it was difficult to find actors willing to play the roles. Double Indemnity is also an example of simple, to the point old school plotting. It's to the point and doesn't have all the excess films a newer movie would have.

Rating: **** 1/2 / 5

26/101

Others:

Wings Of Desire: ***** / 5

A movie about angels who watch and inspire men, considering whether they want to trans-substantiate and become human themselves. The movie analyzes what it means to be human by analyzing what it means not to be: The angels are never in the moment, and don't experience the aesthetic pleasures human beings do. But, being human also means being mortal. The film seems to accept that being human is more fun than being an angel, and show some angels willing to sacrifice immortality to be human, and some not. The cinematography which shows the angel perspectives in black and white and the human perspectives in color is perfect for the themes of the film.

And the actor who played Columbo is in it, playing himself, filming an episode of Columbo in Germany. That was cool.

Next: To Be Or Not To Be, Sunrise