Double Indemnity Frame Analysis

In this shot, the first thing that we see is Walter’s face. Sweaty. Tired. Slanted. Usually, in film language, when someone is slanted or horizontal in comparison to another character faced vertical, it is a signal that the former is in a vulnerable position. Keyes towers over Walter, taking up the two right thirds of the screen, leaving the bottom left third for Walter. Our eyes are also drawn to him because of the brightness of his face. We are then led through Walter’s eyeline to the match that is lighting his cigarette. We then travel up Keyes’s arm and to Keyes. His hat casts a shadow on his face, making him look threatening. Both these characters are in the foreground, and Keyes is squatting down, almost dropping down to Walter’s level as he gives an act of kindness just before his life ends, no matter if he dies or not. At first glance, this shot looks to frame Keyes in a dark, menacing light, but as we look closer we see this facade fade and this inner friendship shine through. His eyes might be in shadow, but we see his mouth almost bending into a smile and his eyebrows furrow with concern. Keyes is also wearing darker colors, leading the audience to assume he is assuming the role of an antagonist. Walter wears lighter colors. He is gray, a mix of light and dark, as he has committed multiple crimes and lied, yet we root for him and he is the main character. One could argue he is an antihero, an common character type that does bad things for a good reason. Walter has done horrible things yet we like him. Why? Well the reason is simply we have spent so much time with him, we naturally sympathize with him. This is a rule for film: no matter how bad a character is, if we follow them we WILL sympathize with them. Now I know there are moments where a character can do irredeemable things and we "lose" them, but film has definitely pushed how far we can go. A good example: Bojack Horseman. He has done so many horrible things, each worse than the last, yet we sympathize with him because it is easier to see ourselves in flawed characters. Now at many moments during the show Bojack has "lost" me (you know when), yet somehow as I keep watching I feel connected to the character, and I feel the same way with everyone else in the show. Walter is one of these people. He has done bad things, yet we are still connected with him. Even though his motivations were solely primal and he only knew her for like ten minutes before killing her husband, which in my opinion is really weird and I would not do that personally, but we still like him I guess. I mean I wasn't crying when he died but he was a pretty likable dude, similar to all the carbon copy Jimmy Stewarts and Cary Grants that Hollywood loved to give money to. He was handsome, chill, older, and always had slicked hair and a furrowed brow. He may do bad things yet we like him. He is gray. He is a blend of good and bad. Like us, even though I won't have as much hair as him when I'm his age. And as the film ends and all seems to be lost, it's just two men sharing a smoke. A simple yet effective moment to end the film on a high yet pitiful moment of kindness as these two share the screen.