“Kiss me Mike… I want you to kiss me.” were the words that Gabrielle spoke to Mike Hammer before she proceeded to shoot him, this of course right after she had ended, her supposed partner in crime, Soberin’s life. This scene captures what I feel like is the height of femme fatality that I have seen to this point. Gabrielle, or Lily, as we know her as for much of the film, to this point in this course is a character that I would consider as the epitome of a femme fatale which as we have seen is a big and very common theme among film noir along with a couple of other themes that I will get into as well.
The theme of the femme fatale is very alive and well in this particular film. In Dickos’ piece about fatal women, he listed typical motivations of femme fatale characters: “ Three things motivate the femme fatale: a Lust for exciting sex, a desire for wealth and the power it brings, and a need to control everything and everyone around her“(Dickos 162). Just in this closing scene I feel that we get 2 out of these 3 that Dickos listed in his piece. When Mike Hammer enters the room in the final scene, we get Gabrielle in a very seductive tone saying, “ Kiss me Mike… I want you to kiss me” granted she was holding a gun to him at time; in that moment you very much feel that lust for sex that Dickos speaks of and even potentially her using her lust and seductiveness to sway decisions and catch these men in the film off guard. The second element that we see just within this scene is the desire for wealth and power. This is Gabrielle’s whole goal, and we definitely get a sense of that in this closing scene. Not even knowing the contents of the box that Soberin carries, she can’t help but do whatever it takes to find out the contents and keep them for herself. Soberin even warns her after she has shot him, “… I will tell you where to take it, but don’t… don’t open… the box.” But her desire for wealth and power propels her to disregard his warnings and open the box anyway. A very interesting shot that we get in this scene comes after she has already shot both men and she goes to open the box. Another typical film noir theme arises which is the bad guys not being able to get away. And she ends up burning up inside the house.
The second and final theme that I think this scene represents very well is the elements of chaos, violence, and paranoia that Porfirio mentions in his piece that we read for class. Within this particular package Porfirio quoted Camus: “Camus said that “at any street corner the absurd may strike a man in the face. Given the special ambience of film noir, the absurd often takes the form of an
dercurrent of violence which could literally strike a man at any moment“(Porfirio 90). Here in this scene, we get the absurd, and lots of it at that. Both Soberin and Mike Hammer are “struck in the face” by Gabrielle’s desire to keep the box for herself and the fact that she shot both of them. The chaotic nature of this scene fits perfectly into Camus’ description of these themes. From Gabrielle shooting Soberin all the way to her being set on fire by opening the box this scene spells out chaos, and really represents a big characteristic and theme of film noir as well. And in the back half of the quote from Camus, he speaks of the violence that can strike a man at any moment, and when I originally watched this scene Gabrielle’s decision to shoot both is men not necessarily expected, but it almost takes that violence quote off the page and just puts it on the screen. I just feel like this scene does an amazing job capturing that concept, with and really emphasizing the particular themes of chaos, violence, and paranoia.
In conclusion, there are many themes throughout film noir but, I feel like this scene does an outstanding job capturing the essence of the femme fatale as Gabrielle is certainly one of the most fitting characters within that description. And the themes of chaos and violence also affect this scene and really the movie as a whole. Overall, the characteristics and themes of film noir are greatly demonstrated throughout this scene and the whole film as well.
