Film noir is a term coined by French film critic Nino Frank in 1946, which defined as 'Dark Film' to describe a new type of Hollywood crime thriller film. It is usually shot in black and white, and use dark shadows to portray the world of crime and corruption (Park, W. 2011, p.2.). According to Susan Hayward (2006, p.149), film noir is considered as a type of film movement rather than a film genre, that defined by its tone and mood.
According to James Naremore's book (1998, p.12), film noir originated in America from 1940s to 1958 and it was constructed from the hard-boiled fiction and German Expressionism. Film noir is associated to certain visual and narrative traits, such as the low-key lighting, images of wet city streets and romantic fascination with femme fatales. These visual style shows the noir world is corrupt, threatening and violent, especially through the prevalence of shadows and areas of darkness within the frame. In addition, film noir also shows the character's state of mind, desires, obsessions and anxieties, such as greed and lust.
At the beginning of film noir period, America was suffering in the World War II as well as dealing with the delayed chain reaction of the Great Depression. (Barbieri, 2013). Classical film noir developed during and after World War II (WWII), film noir uses post-war as their backdrop and comes with the tone of cynicism and distrust. Audience and artists were taken pessimistic view of things after the World War II, and The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) that featured an disreputable private inbestigator who solved mysteries as a profession and chased criminals through the dark streets of American cities, has established a central image for film noir.
The themes of film noir usually illustrating as disillusion and numb, which are derived from Europe country that imported by emigres (Hordness, 2000) filmmakers. On the other hand, the classic film noir was rooted during period of German Expressionism,which is 1920s and 1930s. Film noir emerged from a period of political instability after the World War II which always reflecting the paranoia of Americans at the same time, with its dark, disturbing visual style and thematic content. In the sense of insecurity, this has leads to the questioning of the national identity and man identity. This is due to the fact that women had taken over man's position in workplace during World War II, men were joined in the war that gives a great opportunity for women to enter the workforce.
The independent women were pushed back into the family and domestic sphere when war ended. Here comes a postwar realism considering another next subdivision in the film noir period, the country had a resurrection of realism, authenticity fell from the normal fashion, and realistic exteriors were introduced as a permanent element of the film noir (Barbieri, 2013), such as the hopeless mood within the film and their face are cast in shadow black while speaking.
In term of interior, it was influenced by early-twentieth century German Expressionism with the sharp angles such as windows and railroad tracks, and strong contrast between the light and dark. (Penzler & James, 2010). As in cumulative impression of film noir, the essential visuals are such as a femme fatale, tough cops or private eye, and urban environment.
According to James Naremore (1995, p.19), when comes to the year of 1950s, film noir cannot resist the urge to restore or reinforce the family, the restoration progress including punishing the women and men who have broken the boundaries of family relations or provide a happy ending at the end of the film, which are both contradicts with the style of the film noir itself.
The process of film noir which inverts the classical Hollywood formula of family and marriage at first but conform to the society expectation at the end, shows a clear example of criticization towards the classical Hollywood cinema and the values it embodies.
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