The 1955 film Kiss Me Deadly contains several elements of film noir throughout its runtime. The story follows a private investigator, Mike Hammer.
When it comes to the theme of femme fatal, there are three “main” women in the film and with their interactions with Hammer, they each carry a similar theme; women in need. The opening scene of this movie grabs your attention immediately. The stark contrast of the dark night, a lonely road and a blond woman running in her bare feet, with nothing on but a white trench coat is unusual, yet intriguing. The audience is certain she is running away from something and/or someone. Clearly, she is desperate and “in need”. This is Christina. This scene takes place within the first minute of the film.
Mike Hammer picks her up from the road and he plans to take her where she’s requested. The dialogue is typical for a film noir – short, terse, and saucy. Even though she is “in need”, she’s strong and determined – railing against the status quo for women of the time and classic female for film noir. As stated in Dickos’ article, “the different perceptions of women in the noir have one common denominator: these women are radical disrupters of the status quo…”
After unidentified men try to kill both Christina and Hammer, the scene switches to Hammer waking up in the hospital. He has been saved, but Christina is dead. In the hospital room scene, there are several unsettling shots that occur. It’s almost as if the room is made to be seen as a bad place, with blurry shots of the overhead light, coupled with the creepy expressions of Velda (Hammer’s assistant and apparent love interest) and the nurse. There is also a very crooked shot of the room. This sort of camera work is referenced in Place and Peterson’s article, “More common are bizarre, off-angle compositions of figures placed irregularly in the frame, which create a world that is never stable or safe, that is always threatening to change drastically and unexpectedly.” This shot in particular is a perfect example, especially with the characters being very off-center in the frame, which overall signifies the uneasiness of the situation. This takes place around the 11:20 mark of the film.
It would make sense that there’s a sequence of blurry and unsettling images throughout this scene, because Hammer has just awoken from a severe traumatic experience.
Lastly, there’s Lily. The supposed roommate of Christina. When Hammer finds her while trying to investigate the death of Christina, Lily is wearing nothing but a robe and is barefoot – this theme of desperation is constant and of women “in need”. This scene takes place around the 34:15 mark of the film.
She says that she’s running away. In the end however, Lily is the true femme fatale and not what she appears to be. While Christina was truly helpless and running for her life, Lily was only acting to be in need and acting to be desperate. Lily was an imposter who actually goes by Gabrielle, and ends up putting Velda in a situation where she is also desperate and in need.
