Film Noir was a movement born out of the disillusionment of post-war Americans. The term was coined by French critics who, having not had access to American films since before the Second World War, were astonished by the “obscurity” of post-war Hollywood cinema. Film noir did not provide the escape that previous Hollywood films offered during the Great Depression, but instead confronted audiences with its signature anxiety-inducing style. The settings of these films were oppressive and dark, where light entered the rooms only through the tilt of the shutters on the windows, or not at all, and shadows hovered over the faces of the villains and heroes. The film noir characters were predictable – the “proletarian tough guy” contended with by the “femme fatale” – each an embodiment of corruption, vice and squalid morals (Benton). Themes of sexual aberration and criminality were woven into narratives centered on murder and adultery. Presented in low light and with distorted angles, film noir was intended to psychologically disturb and disorient viewers. The film, Double Indemnity, is a great example of film noir as it achieves film noir's goal of disturbing the audience through its style, setting, characters, and themes. Directed by Billy Wilder and released in 1944, Double Indemnity, was adapted from James M. Cain's short story of the same name, a piece of American hard-boiled fiction. Fred MacMurry plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman, and Barbara Stanwyck is Phyllis Dietrichson, his scheming wife. Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes, Neff's boss, whose job it is to spot fraudulent charges. The film's opening scenes set the tone: the silhouette of a man, limping on crutches, walks toward the audience, zooming in on the screen; ......middle of paper......nd, Neff ironically decides to trust her, providing her with the brute strength needed to carry out his feminine machinations. Phyllis is the dangerous dame, the spider woman who lures the hero into her web of lies. It's quite a sight when she meets Neff for the first time, wearing only a towel; it is seen from above, at the top of the stairs, the pinnacle of femininity and beauty. However, she is not the fragile creature she seems and uses her sexuality to manipulate Neff into killing her husband. Typical of noir women, Phyllis embodies the monstrous feminine, whose hypersexuality is a tool to destroy the family unit and castrate the men she encounters. He dismantles the Dietrichsons from within, kills the mother to take her place, then her husband, and finally turns Zachetti against Lola, who should be like a daughter to her..