Blood Simple Film Analysis

1. Blood Simple is a complex film with multiple ways in which one could interpret the true theme. After several watches of the film, the theme that kept sticking out to me is the idea of what can happen when people make assumptions based off the incomplete information they have. Furthering off this idea, the movie shows the characters actually acting rationally based off the information they know, but we as the audience can see what terrible decisions they make because they chose to act first based off of what they think they know instead of communicating with the party in question. This idea shows itself over and over again throughout the film from the middle of act two. The most obvious instance of this is when Ray enters the bar to find Julian Marty dead in his chair. He walks slowly up behind him, kicks a gun, it goes off and slides under a nearby couch. Upon further examination, he sees that the gun is Abby’s. He makes the assumption that Abby is the one who murdered Marty, and proceeds to incriminate himself by picking up the gun, and attempting to dispose of the body, in an extremely uncomfortable and maddening scene. If he had not assumed Abby to be the murderer, he would not have acted in the way he did, and would have left the body where it was never placing himself in such a horrible situation.

The film is impeccably put together, and there are a multitude of ways in which every element of it contributes to what the Coen brothers are trying to tell the viewers. The narrative is intricately woven between a beautiful use of lighting and colors and a subtle, but extremely effective soundtrack. The story unfolds chronologically; each scene leads to the next. Often though, the audience doesn’t know really know the importance of a scene, or what the motivation of the characters were, until the next one. The directors keep the audience intrigued this, but rewards you with the answer soon after, which contributes to the suspenseful nature of the