Phyllis Dietrichson is one of the main women in the movie Double Indemnity. She represents the classic "femme fatale" of the film noir era. Upon meeting Mr. Neff, the protagonist of the movie, she realizes he is smitten with her and she takes advantage of this, inviting him over a second time while her husband and step daughter, Lola, are gone. She then sneaks thoughts of killing her hated husband into conversation with Mr. Neff, who decides to take her idea and help her out with it, convincing himself he is doing it for love and thinking that they would be together as soon as Mr. Dietrichson is out of the picture. However, as soon as her husband is dead, things between Mr. Neff and Phyllis become rocky and towards the end she finally reveals that she never loved Mr. Neff and was going to keep the money for herself and her lover.
Lola Dietrichson is the son of Mr. Dietrichson and his first wife. At first, she is portrayed as a spoiled child, by Phyllis' deceitful description. Later, when Mr. Neff (and the viewers) first meet Lola, she asks Mr. Neff for a ride to meet her boyfriend, after telling her father it was just a girl friend of hers she was meeting. When Mr. Neff drops her off, her boyfriend appears conceited while Lola acts as the doting girlfriend. This is about the time when the viewer starts to question whether Lola actually is as “rotten” as Phyllis says. As more evidence is revealed about the death of Mr. Dietrichson, Mr. Neff begins to realize that perhaps Phyllis isn’t the woman he thought she was.
The women of this movie play a huge role in the outcome. Of course, the plot is all based around Phyllis’ plan to murder her husband. As time goes on, Mr. Neff realizes he made a huge mistake in thinking he loved Phyllis when Lola was able to open his eyes to what a monster she really was; one woman led him into the darkness, the other led him out. Phyllis is the prime example of a femme fatale, while Lola is thought to be one initially until her kind character is gradually revealed. Overall, the women were represented as a sort of “yin and yang” throughout the movie, which was what balanced Mr. Neff’s character.
I think you did a wonderful job at describing the women of this film. For me I thought about the connection's each woman had to the man they were with (i.e. Lola to Nino and Phyllis to Walter). What, if any, significant impact do you think that each woman had on their man by the end of the film?
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