1) Compare and contrast the main male and female characters in "Double Indemnity" and "The Last Seduction". How are they similar and how are they different?

Double Indemnity: The male seems to be the dominant one, telling the women what to do and she goes along to what she says.

The Last seduction: The woman is the controllable one leading the man on and he follows.



2) How well do the female characters fit into the role of Femme Fatal? (research this term before responding to ensure you have a good understanding of the what it means.)

Double Indemnity: In this film it doesn’t seem she fits in to the Femme fatal role, it is the man in control but he is only doing what he is doing for her.

The Last seduction: Wendy Kroy fits in the role really well as she leads two men on in this film and comes out on top.



3)How do the settings add to the sense of Noir within the films? (read about settings before responding please.)


The Last seduction: Lighting is used through out the film to add to the sense of noir, inparticular at the end before the murder wendy looks up at the apartment and see's the lights go out, and when wendy and mike are ringing people up together the shadows that are used when the lighting and rain are outside reflecting on the windows. Also the characters motivations through out the film are easily linked with film noir.

Double Indemnity: shadows are constantly used, characters motivations again, similar to that of the last seduction, strong role of woman used.



4) How are light and shadows used within the film to create a sense of meaning?

The last seduction: When ringing up people in the office to ask about women's husbands its raining outside and thunder and lighting is going on aswell, this adds to what the characters are doing on screen as it shows its a kind of dark thing they are doing.

Double Indemnity: shadows are casted when the man is hiding in the bush at the end, and the room is dark before that when he gets shot to add to the suspence of if it was him or her who got shot.

5) Do you think that "The Last Seduction" is a good example of a Neo Noir? How far does it fit the conventions of Film Noir?

I think it is as it has everything of film noir would have but its in colour, for example shadows are used, the womens motivations, and murder.

6) "Double Indemnity" is often described as the ultimate film noir, why do you think this is? How well does the film fit into the conventions of Film Noir?

Film noir is described as the following: is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations.

Double indemnity is a crime drama and does emphasizes cynical attitudes and sexual motivations.

7) What are the key themes explored within the 2 films? Please explore each film seperately first

The last seduction: Bribes, murder and theft.
Double Indemnity: blackmail, murder

8)What are the common themes of both films
money and murder.

9) How do the messages and values explored within the film reflect the times in which they were made? (you will need to do a little research to respond to this question.

Double Indemity and the last seduction's crimes both seem very rare and complex for the times in which they were set.