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| From left: Captain, Ed Exley, Bud White, Jack Vincennes |
L.A Confidential, as well as featuring neo-noir complex narrations, chiaroscuro lighting and perhaps the most urban setting of all, Los Angeles, showcases neo-noir crime film elements such as the hard-boiled detectives, the love triangle and again, the femme fatale. Curtis Hanson's 1997 film follows the story of three officers, Edmund 'Ed' Exley (Guy Pearce), Wendell 'Bud' White (Russell Crowe) and Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), who, whilst investigating the murders of the Night Owl Shooting discover an intersection of police corruption, drug pedalling and Hollywood celebrity. Corrigan and White comment that in neo-noir crime films such as L.A confidential “hard-boiled detectives are less confident than before, femme fatales are more neurotic and corruption is more sickly and widespread.”
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| Fig.1 |
The film explores the very noir notions of a 'hard-boiled' detective, (in this case three), who “who represents the law or a more ambiguous version of it”. Corrigan and White note that these “usually these individuals must battle a criminal element (sometimes the police) to solve a mystery" and that through the course of their investigation they will "uncover a darkness and corruption in virtually all characters that never seem fully resolved." The three detectives, Exley, who is alienated by his unwavering morality (fig.1),
White, a man of brute force willing to do whatever it takes to achieve justice (fig.2)
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| Fig.2 |
and Vincennes, a sardonic officer concerned more with his celebrity than his duty (fig.3),
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| Fig.3 |
are seemingly not the hard-boiled detectives we have come to know, such as the emotionally-shut-off Sam Spade in
The Maltese Falcon. (Fig.4)
However all three are classic anti-heroes, who's conflict-filled intersecting storylines not only slowly reveal their darker desires and questionable morals, but allow them to escape the confines of their normally tragic past, such as White not being able to protect his abused Mother, and gain closure by means of solving the case. All three detectives are depicted in the film in a shallow depth of field close-ups, normally to capture the conflicting nature of our protagonists emotions as they embark on their journey's, both romantic, work-orientated and personal. In fig.5 we can see the shot rack refocusing "from the captain to Exley to catch the latter's determined expression as he turns toward the interrogation room." (Corrigan and White, 113).
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| Fig.4 |
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| Fig.5 |
Love triangles are often the centre of neo-noir crime films, with the woman, the femme fatale, usually the sexual apex of desire in the triangle containing two other men, such as in the case of L.A Confidential where Lynn Bracken (Kim Basinger), a gorgeous and duplicitous woman manipulates and seduces both Exley and White. (Fig.7).
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| Fig.7 |
Corrigan and White note that in neo-noir films “relationships commonly appear determined by violence and sexuality, characterised notably in the femme fatales who surround the male protagonist.” This depiction of relationships, in which the audience is encouraged to immediately equate sexuality with control, emerged due to the weakening of the influence of the 1934 Hay's Code of Conduct which had previously forbade lewd 'unnecessary' sexuality. (Fig.8) This weakening of the codes influences also allowed neo-noir films such as L.A Confidential to portray the femme fatale is more complex and neurotic, embroiling not one, but two men in her web, for both
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| Fig.8 |
protection and advantage. These love triangles not only further elements of the plot, leading to a more complex structure we know is characteristic of film noir, but help to explore the the psychology of the characters, highlighting their paranoia, sexual obsession, possessiveness, double-crossing nature and moral ambiguity. The femme fatales vulnerability and sexuality is portrayed stylistically through the use of colour and costume. Lynn is constantly seen in shades of white, cream and yellow, in dresses which brush the floor but typically expose her chest. (Fig. 9). Whilst the light colours proclaim her innocence and vulnerability, the lewd cut of her dress shows her manipulative nature, as she uses her sexuality as her tool for defence or advantage.
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| Fig.9 |
References
Corrigan, Tim and Patricia White. The Film Experience: An Introduction. Boston: St Martins, 2012. Print.
L.A Confidential. Dir. Curtis Hanson. Regency Enterprises, 1997. Film.
The Maltese Falcon. Dir. John Huston. Warner Bros, 1941. Film.
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