Dangers Of Phyllis Dietrichson In Double Indemnity

The Dangers of Phyllis Dietrichson

[In the time period that Double Indemnity is written, there was a change in the family dynamic due to World War II. Women were out in the workforce and a large amount of the male population was overseas at war, protecting our country.] Status Quo [Although we have our men being portrayed as strong and defending our beliefs against our enemies, the Germans and Japanese, in Double Indemnity our main character Walter Neff seems bored with his life and as a result seems weaker than the typical representation of a man being a warrior.] Destabilizing Condition [Because of the weakness shown by Walter Neff, the stereotypical image of a man in the outside world is changed, and we see Walter becoming susceptible to

According to Janey Place, “In these films, it is the woman who is portrayed benefitting from her dependence on men; in film noir, it is clear that men need control women’s sexuality in order to not be destroyed by it. (Place, 49)” There are multiple instances in Double Indemnity where Phyllis’s sexuality is portrayed visually. For example, there is a scene where Phyllis has entered Walter’s apartment and begins to smoke a cigarette. The image of Phyllis’s lips around the cigarette is phallic in nature can represent her want for Walter right in the apartment. It takes everything for Walter resist however this images is significant because this is where he becomes fully involved with Phyllis and enact a plan for him to murder Mr. Dietrichson. Another example of sexual portrayal of Phyllis is when Neff first meet Phyllis at her house and we see her in a towel at the top of the stairs. The camera is right at Neff’s eye level but because he is below her the camera is angled upward. We hear through voice-over by Neff that Phyllis’ image drives him crazy and he is sexually attracted to him. Through these images, we see that Phyllis’ attractiveness lured Neff in but we see later her actions and subsequent consequences are what cause his and hers

Although we have previously mentioned that Phyllis leads to Neff’s destruction, it is revealed to us that she not only destroyed Neff’s life but Dietrichson’s before she even kills him. In Double Indemnity, Lola tells a story about how Phyllis was her biological mother’s nurse who purposefully killed her because she wanted to be with Mr. Dietrichson. If this was true, we can see that Phyllis fits the description of a Femme Fatale before she met Neff leading us to analyze her motives for killing Dietrichson alternatively. Was she murdering him because she was in a loveless marriage and was miserable, or is she in the business of murder for hire and just wants the insurance money? This is a question that allows viewers to stay engaged and drives the action for Neff and the entire film. In contrast to her true character as a Femme Fatale, we see Phyllis as playing stepmother to Lola. Phyllis almost takes the archetype of the evil stepmother allowing Lola to have no fun as a teenager in destroying her life as well by killing her mother and her father. She is the complete opposite of the “nurturing women” stated by Janey Place further solidifying her place as being the Femme Fatale as Place said there are only “two types od women in Film Noir.” Through these actions, Phyllis causing