Film Noir

We watched another documentary about cinema. This time, it talked about a genre of film. 


As we watched the documentary, it was said that in the end of World War II, the ambience of anxiety, pessimism and suspicion have prevailed because of the post-war era. It brought an era of rebuilding among families. That's why directors began to make cynical and pessimistic films that touched the nerves of the Americans. They made films that have their own look and unique characteristics. These films were black and ; they were dark and often raw. The stories were about crime, seduction and action. As John Lithgow said, "The only law in this breed of film was the rule of faith, a kind of moral restitution where everybody dies at the end. It represents a darker side of American film that began to replace the cheerier side of Hollywood in the 1940s. This kind of movie is called Film Noir."

Dark, angular shadows. Beautiful and determined women. The isolated feel of cities. These are the things that usually come to our mind when we think about Film Noir. In the early 1940s to the late 1950s, Hollywood's classical Film Noir bloomed in this period. Until the present time, this kind of genre is still applied by some directors. 

According to Wikipedia, The term film noir, French for "black film,” was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946. They noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American crimes and detective films. In the post-war period, a wide range of films manifested the tension and insecurities in the society. Despair, fear, mistrust and paranoia are evident in this kind of film. The violent and greedy perspectives of anti-heroes were symptoms of society’s evils. There were seldom happy endings in film noir.

I noticed that in film noir, most stories developed around a cynical male character who encountered a beautiful and seductive femme fatale; an alluring or seductive woman, especially one who causes men to love her to their own distress. She would use her feminine guts to manipulate him into becoming the fall guy and often following a murder. After a betrayal, she was frequently destroyed as well, often at the cost of the hero's life.

As I've researched more about film noir, I have learned that these films have been also greatly influenced by German Expressionism. Shadows and lighting from German Expressionism was adapted to refine the dark mood of the crime stories and was ideal for B-grade films that had to be shot with less lighting due to its limited resources. The experiences of the film makers and actors from German Expressionism took an effect on the elements of the American films with their participation in the production. Because of that film noir became heavily influences by the film movement.

Film noir is an interesting genre because of its unique stories and styles. That’s why until now, film makers try to make films that use stylistic elements that are commonly used in contemporary films such as sci-fi and fantasy films.