International Noir homepage -- Spring 2004 -- week three essays

In both Raw Deal and Elevator to the Gallows, directors Mann and Malle portray the main female characters as constantly relying on their lovers to provide for their future. These women are shut out from their lovers' inner thoughts, and must simply wait on the sidelines to see if their men will succeed. While the men are the criminal masterminds, the women still feel the effects of their plans.
Throughout Raw Deal, Pat always struggles to stay close to Joe's heart, but never succeeds. Mann frequently uses diegetic voice-over to illustrate Pat's disdain for Ann, and to share her feelings about Joe. However, Pat is truly shown to be an outcast at the end of the film, when Joe dies in Ann's arms. The shot frames all three characters, and Pat is clearly on the outside of these two lovers. Even though she helped Joe escape from prison, he shrugs her off when he finds another woman. In this scene, Joe is able to relive the heroism of his youth by once again saving someone from a fire, and dies with the one he truly loves. Joe uses Pat's love for him to achieve his plans, but never returns her affection. Pat's future relies heavily on Joe's faithfulness, and when he betrays her, she realizes she has nothing left to live for.

While Julien Tavernier does not intentionally betray Florence Carala in Elevator to the Gallows, when he becomes trapped in the elevator her total dependence on him becomes apparent. Florence places all her faith in Julien's ability to secretly murder her husband. When his getaway is compromised and she begins to think that he has betrayed her, Florence's vulnerability is clearly illustrated. Florence stands outside of Julien's office building, crying out to him. The building is closed for the weekend and the gate is shut, and she subsequently crumples against the gate. The shot captures her from behind the gate, making its bars appear as though she were already in prison. The audience readily understands that without Julien, Florence is nothing. Florence totally depended on Julien to successfully murder her husband, and when he fails, she fails as well. In fact, when they are both captured, Florence receives the higher penalty of the two, even though she did not actually commit the murder.

In both of these films, the leading ladies are shown to be completely dependent on their lovers' success. They have no say in what their men decide to do, and because of this, they must simply wait and see how their lovers' actions will affect their lives.

scoundrels and the women who love them: faux-fatales and "he-women" in film noir
response by KING GONDO OF THE SHOE PEOPLE

The debate over the role of women in film noir has inflamed many a passion since the genre’s “birth” (really discovery) by French critics more than fifty years ago, but scrutiny was certainly increased with the rise of a strong neo-feminist movement shortly thereafter. While some argue that women are objectified in film noir (and most other genres), others see the title of the “film noir woman” as too broad a classification for many characters. As proven by the films Raw Deal and Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, broad classification of women in these films is certainly unwarranted, even when narrative conventions seem to be present.

Raw Deal presents its women at the beginning of the narrative, setting up a conflict that continues to the end of the film. Both women are introduced in the opening scene, in which each (Pat, devious co-conspirator, and Ann, described as “Mrs. Law and Order”) establishes their relationship with Joe, the crafty inmate with a plan of his own. The two women are at odds throughout the film, first through the Pat’s jealousy of Ann, then through an actual love triangle. Although she changes at the end of the film (albeit barely in time), Pat establishes her character through her complete dependence on Joe. In this aspect, she is an interesting character—she is an immoral woman only through and because of Joe. She is a woman who is suspicious when other women are even around her man, much less when they attempt to win his affection. In this respect she is a poor example of a modern woman (really a “he-woman,” incomplete without her lover), but she is still a perfect foil to the reserved and upright Ann.

While Pat in Raw Deal may be cold-blooded and ruthless, she is certainly not a “femme fatale,” solely concerned with her own welfare (in fact, it seems that her own welfare is the last thing on her mind). However, a variation of this type of woman is presented ten years later in Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, Louis Malle’s tale of crossed paths and coincidences. The faux-fatale of this film is clearly Florence Carala, who is having an affair with her husband’s underling, Julien Tavernier. With the limited information available (in addition to difficult-to-read subtitles), it seems that Florence has convinced Julien to murder her husband, presumably for both their sakes. However, as this is a film noir, bad luck follows the protagonist to the end of the film, resulting in several coincidences that implicate her in the murder of Monsieur Carala.

Interestingly, Malle has chosen to cast Florence in a decidedly positive light up to this point, showing her (reckless) concern for Tavernier as she searches the streets throughout the night. Remarkably, this trend continues to the end of the film, when Florence is caught in her own trap. This late-period film noir plays with the viewer’s expectations—while they are expecting a selfish expression of regret, the audience learns that Mme. Carala’s harbors deep feelings toward her murdering lover. While surveying the developing photos of herself and Tavernier, she laments their fall, reflecting that their youths will likely pass them both by in prison. This characterization is unique and strangely touching, proving that although Mme. Carala is certainly a femme, the title of “fatale” is perhaps applied unfairly. With this denouement, Malle leaves an odd feeling of sympathy the protagonists—their affection toward each other is brought into high relief by their many happy photos together; however, at the same time, their tragic naïveté is accentuated by their foolish murder plot.

the casting couch: ladies, have a seat
response by THE RIPPER OF TEMPLE TECH

The camera can be cruel. This statement, while fraught with it’s own contrived connotations, exists for a reason. The camera sees what it wants to on purpose. In noir this rule holds especially true. So true. The fact is that noir is dependant on what it does and does not show the audience. The women characters in noir films are heavily dependant on casting.

In Raw Deal, Mann utilizes the camera to play up the various aspects of the conflicting female roles. The character Ann is given special attention by Mann. In one particular scene, Ann is romantically smoking and watching the moon. Ann is lit with a glow and she is framed to the right, leaving an open space should some Joe off the street want to come fill it. As the scene continues the audience is again given a remarkable close up of Ann. The key distinction about Ann is purely a casting decision. She’s young. She’s young and beautiful. The camera knows this and it never in this film decides to hide it.

Pat has a slightly different story. She’s by no means what could be called traditionally ugly, but she’s certainly a few years older. The decision to cast Claire Trevor to play Pat was definitely done with respect to her “hard-boiled” look. In one particular scene, Pat and Joe are on a bed. Pat is laying down and Joe is sitting up. This choice to have her laying down subconsciously reinforces what she is in fact narrating, Joe has never said “I love you.” Traditionally it could be expected to see a dramatic close-up at a revelation of this type; however, this does not occur. In fact, there a very few (if any) close-ups on Pat. Again this is done intentionally. The audience is not supposed to connect with her in that “kissing distance” way.

In Elevator to the Gallows, Florence fits into this sort of “drab” woman category. Throughout the film she’s often shown in this way, often with extreme lighting playing up this fact. One interesting instance of her “drabness” comes when she unenthusiastically walks into the middle of traffic. In this scene, she desires to cross the street but seemingly has no concern for what happens to her physical person. All of this stated assumption comes about from knowledge of her body language. This particular brand of body language perhaps would have been lost had a different actress been used. Imagine Marilyn Monroe doing this same action. It is not hard to see how the casting decision employed by Malle is key to betrayal of the character Florence.

warning to all the ladies thinking about no longer being a femme fatale
response by GEORGE CERCLE CARTER, A.K.A. MISS ROUGE

In the films Raw Deal and Ascenseur pour l’echafaud, the female characters are similar in that they are not femme fatale or “Wrong Woman” figures, but rather tragic femmes fatales trying to leave the dirty world of crime. The similarity of the two lead females of being tragic femmes fatales is not apparent until the end of the movie.

At the beginning and throughout the films, they both are aware of the lead male's crime he committed for her and do whatever the male wants because they know in the end they will be the ones gaining something more then the male character. However, by the end of the film the female characters become tragic characters as they both try to reform themselves from being evil and the similarity is strikingly close to one copying the other.

The first sign of the female characters wanting to change is almost completely unnoticeable. This change is in the noise that is presented around them. In Raw Deal, Patty hurts her ankle and is no longer able to make loud clicking noises a minute before she enters the frame. Right after she loses her pre-entrance noise, her narration begins on how she sees Joe change as she starts thinking Joe could want somebody else.

In Ascenseur pour l’echafaud, right after Miles Davis is no longer playing while Julliette walks, Juillette's narration starts to wonder if Tavernier is the right guy for her. After the two female leads realize that the guy they control could do more with his life than be with the lead female character, the two lead female characters' wardrobes change in the next scene from all-black outfits to something a little brighter.

By the end of the movies, both female roles are trying to do the right thing. For Pat, the right thing is to let Joe rescue his true love from gangsters even though she still loves him. For Juillette, it is finding the right murderer to save her lover. In the end, both characters, even after realizing that they were evil and trying to correct their wrongdoings, lose. Patty loses Joe and Juillette is arrested for helping a murderer.

In classic noir, the bad guy or main character eventually is arrested or killed by the end of the movie. What makes these two female characters interesting is instead of trying to find a way to not get caught for their original crime, they try to find away to undo their wrongdoings, which in the world of noir is tragic for me.

In comparing the two movies, I noticed that in each movie there were three dominant types of roles for women. The first one is the “sexually frustrated” types played by Pat in Raw Deal and Florence in Elevator to the Gallows. The second is the “sex goddess” played by Ann in Raw Deal and Veronique in Elevator to the Gallows. Finally, we see a very limited role, the “party girl” played by the woman that is treated badly by Rick in Raw Deal and by the woman at the bar that offers information in exchange for a drink in Elevator to the Gallows.

Pat and Florence are both loyal to their lovers and they appear that they are longing for them. This is shown in the scene where Pat goes to visit Joe in prison and she wants to touch him but she cannot because the glass window is between the two of them. It is also shown in the middle of the movie when Pat injures her foot only so that she can be picked up by Joe and carried away. And at the end of the movie when the two are in the boat, Pat tries to kiss Joe but he looks away and tells her to wait some more. Florence, on the other hand, is so desperate for Julian that she scours the city looking for him in every corner and every hide. She also talks to him on the phone with a distinctively seductive tone as she tells Julian that “he is the only one for her.”

The second type, played by Ann and Veronique, shows two very independent women that have a sex appeal about them. In Raw Deal, they chose Ann to play this role and, not accidentally, she seems to be at least ten years younger than Pat. There is a scene where Ann is laying in bed wearing nothing but her sleeping gown and she looks very sexy and attractive. Similarly, in Elevator to the Gallows, Veronique is young and vibrant and she is shown in one scene riding the car with the roof down while the wind flies through her hair.

Finally, there are the two women who have roles in only one scene. The woman that Rick seems to ignore and abuse acts as if she is high on drugs and is there solely for Rick’s pleasure. If there was no party she would not be there; thus I categorized her as the “party girl”. In Elevator to the Gallows there is that woman in the bar who is willing to give information in exchange for a drink and seems to be a little drunk. She also has that “party girl” appearance. These three types of roles are seen in film noir over and again. Women’s roles in film noir seem to be balancing or supporting types of roles, rather than leading roles.

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