One of the motifs that occur in the film ‘double indemnity’ is the reference to honeysuckle. The first time that honeysuckle is mentioned is when Neff first meets Phyllis and says she smells like the flower; it is then mentioned again when Neff arrives at Phyllis’s house to murder her husband, he notes that the whole house smells like honeysuckle and says “who would have guessed murder smells like honey suckle.” At first when Neff references Phyllis as smelling like honeysuckle the audience is positioned to respond that Phyllis is the image of innocent femininity with her beauty and sweet smell. However as the story progresses and Neff mentions honeysuckle again only this time in reference to murder the audience realizes that this sweet smell is only a cover for the evil that lies beneath (despite honeysuckles sweet exterior the berries can be poisonous.) this uses on of the common Noir techniques, duplicity, where a idea is displayed twice often showing the various different meanings or “hidden agendas.”
One of the motifs that occur in the film ‘double indemnity’ is the reference to honeysuckle. The first time that honeysuckle is mentioned is when Neff first meets Phyllis and says she smells like the flower; it is then mentioned again when Neff arrives at Phyllis’s house to murder her husband, he notes that the whole house smells like honeysuckle and says “who would have guessed murder smells like honey suckle.” At first when Neff references Phyllis as smelling like honeysuckle the audience is positioned to respond that Phyllis is the image of innocent femininity with her beauty and sweet smell. However as the story progresses and Neff mentions honeysuckle again only this time in reference to murder the audience realizes that this sweet smell is only a cover for the evil that lies beneath (despite honeysuckles sweet exterior the berries can be poisonous.) this uses on of the common Noir techniques, duplicity, where a idea is displayed twice often showing the various different meanings or “hidden agendas.”
ReplyDeleteRachael Karotkin