Blog #4 - Zero Draft Questions

9. A significant change between the novel and the film is the raised prominence of the character of Keyes in the film version. Critics have suggested that the novel is a story of two lovers whereas the film depicts a love triangle and that often Walter is being pulled back and forth between Phyllis and Keyes. What evidence from the film supports these assertions?

Throughout Double Indemnity there are many indicators of the proposed triangle that exists between the characters of Walter Neff, Phyllis Dietrichson and Barton Keys. Walter, being the centerpiece and amplifier, is pulled between physical conceptualizations of love and sex. Barton representing love and Phyllis representing sex.

Within the first few moments of Phyllis’ introduction to Walter, the indication of a explicitly sexual relationship is foreshadowed, evidenced by Walter’s pleasurable change in expression and demeanor at the sight of the partially covered Phyllis. This first encounter is not subtle or innocuous by any means as it blatantly establishes, as a tip off to the audience by the filmmakers, the composition of what their relationship will entail. In each of their subsequent scenes together, unless they are scheming the murder of Phyllis’ husband, physical attraction and sex are the main, albeit deceptively subtle, components.

On the other hand, the relationship between Barton and Walter is built upon mutual respect, trust, and tenderness, derived from years of professional collaboration. This fact is made evident by narration from Walter in which he espouses his feelings for Barton, “You never fooled me with your song and dance, not for a second. I kind of always knew that behind the cigar ashes on your vest, you had a heart as big as a house.” The relationship is also given credence by Walter’s lighting of Barton’s cigars throughout the film. Barton constantly struggles to get them lit only to have Walter step in and light it for him, suggesting care and support. In the end, this gesture is returned by Barton, when he lightsWalter’s cigarette as he nears death, subtly returning affection.

As the plot thickens and Walter becomes further immersed in his wrong doings, he seeks escape from the trappings of the scheme as well as to depart from Phyllis’ growing adversarial nature. Barton becomes a morality check for Walter as he seeks a sort of spiritual guidance. Absolution is sought, not from the duplicitous side of the triangle, but its rather it’s trusting side. Walter lays out the details of the murder plot to Barton as if he is his father confessor. He is asking forgiveness, not just from the law, but more importantly from the man whose trust he betrayed. Therefore, by departing from the novel, the film suggests a stark contrast between the act of sex and the feeling of love, that the two acts are perhaps irreconcilable. 

On a final and more personal note, it is also suggested by film analysts that the relationship between Walter and Barton has a subtext of homoeroticism. This is a completely erroneous supposition. Walter and Barton have an established love, this fact is not in dispute. Rather, the grievance has its roots in the way in which the word love is being used to imply more than its definition. In this case, over analyzation has a produced a theory that has little to no merit. It is well established that love can exist between members of the same sex and be strictly platonic, not romantic or sexual in nature.

5. During the title a sequence, a man on crutches hobbles toward the camera. Explain the significance of this image. Who in the story does this man represent? Why would this be an appropriate image to show at the beginning of the film? How does this sequence anticipate later developments in the film?

At the beginning of the film, the man on crutches is presented to the audience as a silhouette. To the uniformed, this image presents a puzzle to the mind, a mystery, begging to be solved. How does he end up on crutches? Who this man? Why is his he hidden in shadow?  Some of the answers are revealed in the text of the film, pointing to the man on crutches as Walter Neff, masquerading as Mr. Dietrichson, done in hopes of deceiving witness in the plot of his murder. However, this opening faceless visage may have far more reaching implications than simply foreshadowing the events of a murder. 

The image seems to suggest a changing of identity. By taking on the form and clothes of Dietrichson, Walter inevitably becomes him. Dietrichson, the man who was duped and murdered by his wife, lives on in the guise of Walter. And then, as the odds begin to favor a turnabout in the affair, Walter becomes the target of Phyllis‘ diabolic nature. The subtext seems to imply, at least to me, that perhaps all men are weak willed in when it comes to women and their powers of seduction. 

Dietrichson married Phyllis, seduced just as easily as Walter would later be, albeit under different circumstances. As soon as he died, Walter stepped in to replace him, bringing that soul back to life. In the end, perhaps all men are just faceless bodies, awaiting their time of death and rebirth.