Looks that kill: Double Indemnity (1944) reimagined in postmodern neo-noir and television

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the transformation of the femme fatale figure from classic noir to neo-noir film and to contemporary television. Exploring the reasons for this transformation and its implications yields fresh revelations about the new femme fatale. Using Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944) as the focal point, we examine the intertextual allusions to this classic in two postmodern neo-noir films – Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat (1981) and John Dahl’s The Last Seduction (1994) – and in one of Netflix’s earliest original television series, House Of Cards (2013–2018), created by Beau Willimon. In addition, this article queries in what ways these filmic reincarnations offer a revolutionary re-envisioning of the femme fatale figure. Unlike the classic femme fatale, the new femme fatale ‘gets away with murder’, thus posing a monstrous threat to the capitalist and patriarchal economy in which she operates. The subversive potential of these neo-noir films lies in their parodic and witty undercutting of societal norms, especially at the height of today’s #MeToo Movement.