From Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon to Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, the femme fatale always has a clear, evil motive. Phyllis Dietrichson took advantage of insurance salesman Walter Neff to assist her with murdering her husband and collecting on a life insurance policy. These criminal ideals were always obvious in noir, but much less defined in neo-noir. The “femme fatale” in Chinatown is Evelyn Mulwray, although one could argue that she had no evil intentions or motives, and instead was a byproduct of the evil people surrounding her. Evelyn was also left unpunished at the end of Chinatown, unlike most of the femme fatales and criminals of the noir
From Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon to Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity, the femme fatale always has a clear, evil motive. Phyllis Dietrichson took advantage of insurance salesman Walter Neff to assist her with murdering her husband and collecting on a life insurance policy. These criminal ideals were always obvious in noir, but much less defined in neo-noir. The “femme fatale” in Chinatown is Evelyn Mulwray, although one could argue that she had no evil intentions or motives, and instead was a byproduct of the evil people surrounding her. Evelyn was also left unpunished at the end of Chinatown, unlike most of the femme fatales and criminals of the noir