Out of Bounds:
The Lesbian Presence in Film Noir

Recently at a movie memorabilia convention, we had a conversation with a collector/dealer about women in contemporary noir films. Our collector prided himself on his "vast" knowledge of not only women's roles in such films, but in women's reactions to the actresses in these roles. With a little encouragement, he revealed to us his "expertise" on what women think and feel. He said "like himself most of the women he knew disliked contemporary noir films because the female protagonists were too hard and not vulnerable enough." We asked him to provide an example for us. Without missing a beat he responded, "that most women disliked Sharon Stone (star of Basic Instinct) because she seemed so cold and that they could not identify with her." He went on to say that these comments accurately reflected his own feelings on the subject.

Central to our discussion will be our perceptions, real or imagined, of the lesbian within film noir using three examples of lesbian related codes within noir conventions; Dietrich in "The Blue Angel," (illustration) and two contemporary retro-noir films ~~ "Basic Instinct" and "Bound."

Let us define the origins of the noir aesthetic as rooted in American, French and German cultures. Narrative "noir" as defined by Francis M. Nevins, Jr. refers to the kind of "bleak, disillusioned study in the poetry of terror that flourished in American fiction during the thirties and forties and in American crime movies during the forties and fifties...characterized by a style punctuated with fear, guilt, loneliness, breakdown, despair, sexual obsession, social corruption, and a sense that the world is controlled by malignant forces..., a rejection of happy endings...a preference for resolutions heavy with doom, but always redeemed by a ...vivid image...."

In the 1940s many American crime novels were published in France in a long running series called "Serie Noire," and by the end of World War II. after French film lovers were exposed for the first time to Hollywoodıs adaptation of those dark novels, French critics coined the term "film noir" to describe the genre.

Germanyıs contribution to the development of a noir aesthetic is rooted in the visual vocabulary of German Expressionism with its angularity, asymmetry, vivid contrasts of light and shadow, claustrophobic sets, psychic terrors, sadism, paranoid delusions, and journeys into the heart of darkness. All of this underscored by virtuoso camera work and brilliant direction.

Unrehabilitated classic film noir has at its foundation a deeply rooted misogyny. According to E. Ann Kaplan in Women in Film Noir, "...women are central to the intrigue of the films... ...defined by their sexuality, which is presented as desirable but dangerous to men, the women function as the obstacle to the male quest... ...the heroıs success or not depends on the degree to which he can extricate himself from the womanıs manipulations." She goes on to say that, "the man is simply destroyed because he cannot resist the womanıs lures..., often the work of the film is the attempted restoration of order through the exposure and then destruction of the sexual, manipulating woman."

Patriarchal attitudes further assert themselves in the enforcement of the bad girl/ good girl dichotomy within these films. Goodness implies compliance, a going along with the social contract as drawn up by men. Badness is implicit to the actions of the unredeemable autonomous woman who challenges man-made law and order. The "bad" girl is fatal and a criminal by virtue of her outsider status.

What makes her an "outsider?" She is a loner who plays by her own rules and makes her own decisions. She bases her actions on what feels right to her rather than conforming to societyıs expectations and demands. This "bad" girl is in command of her own sexuality. She has sex with whoever she pleases. She has agency in the world and feels entitled to go after what she wants regardless of the risks. Her very being is a challenge to patriarchal law and order. Needless to say she isnıt wife material.

In the context of this essay we propose that the "bad girl" in noir represents many characteristics of "the potential lesbian." Such a woman might define herself as heterosexual, bi-sexual and/or sexually lesbian. She is what she says she is in the moment and defies any oneıs attempts to define her. She exemplifies the most dangerous construction possible--the free woman!

Now, let us look at three films wherein the female protagonists are examples of this paradigm: "The Blue Angel (1930)"; "Basic Instinct (1992)"; "Bound (1996)." "The Blue Angel," directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings is based on Heinrich Mannıs novel, Professor Unrath. The story revolves around an elderly, pedantic professor (Jannings) who falls blindly in love with a young cabaret singer, Lola-Lola (Dietrich). Against the advice and warnings of his colleagues and friends who view Lola as a temptress who is "beneath" his station, he marries her. In the course of their marriage she refuses to become "a wife." She continues performing regardless of his demands that she settle down with him. Unable to live without her he gives up his honor, position and manhood as defined by bourgeois convention. He becomes a clown in the cabaret act. Lola rapidly tires of his whining and takes a new lover, the "strong man." By the end of film the professor is an object of abject ridicule who returns to his former classroom to die.

"The Blue Angel," is the mother of all noirs. The movie contains all the necessary ingredients in the noir formula; sexual obsession, breakdown, fear, guilt, shame, malignant forces, the femme fatale and the doomed hero. Von Sternberg is a master of German expressionism who paints a portrait of a man (Unrath) against fate (Lola-Lola). However, Lola-Lola represents, not destiny but freedom. The professor is destroyed not because he strays from the tried and true but because he does not know how to live free. Lola (freedom) is what he yearns for yet when he has her he immediately wants to bind her. Her refusal to be bound kills him.

Some sixty years later, Paul Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct" (1992) picks up the threads of "The Blue Angel" in graphic visual detail. The film stars Sharon Stone as a writer of sexual thrillers and Michael Douglas as a San Francisco cop with a history of being trigger happy (the shooter). Douglas has a fatal attraction for Stone who is a key suspect in a series of ice pick murders. Stone plays a larger than life, sexy, bi-sexual femme fatale. She has a female lover who floats in and out of the action.

This sexually over the top noir plays with the theme of what happens when you no longer play by any rules? Stoneıs character is a collector of conspicuous outrage: she has convicted murderers as friends and lovers and she collects sensations. She manipulates whoever falls into her web to enact her narrative fantasies in a living tableau. They willingly compete to join her in the play. The stakes are high... life or death.

In this noir, the basic instinct for freedom is shot through the lens of sudden death. Implicit to the plot is that to be free you must risk everything. Stone portrays a woman who has nothing to lose. Her life revolves around what she can get away with. She flaunts authority as demonstrated in the now infamous interrogation scene wherein the police question her about the murders while she provocatively teases them by crossing and uncrossing her legs revealing her lack of any underwear! She demonstrates a singular sang-froid while the boys are creaming their pants.

The only time Stoneıs character loses her cool is when she finds out that her lesbian lover has been killed. She is so moved that she actually cries. She also points out to Douglas, "I have no luck with women." This serves to arouse and inflame Douglası desire even more. Now he decides he must have her for himself to marry and have children.

His blindness to her "basic instincts" occupies the remaining portion of the film. He chooses to see her as his woman and refuses to view her as the free woman she really is. In the erotically provocative final scene Stone and Douglas are in bed after what Douglas terms "the fuck of the century" discussing their future. He goes on about marrying her and having children and she looks off in the distance as the camera pans to an ice pick lurking under their bed. The viewer is left wondering just how long Douglas has on this earth? Surely if he keeps talking about having those kids, not very long!

There is no question that the character portrayed by Stone is a killer who uses whatever she has at hand to satisfy her basic instincts. However, she is also a free agent who refuses to play by man-made rules. Her bi-sexuality is a statement of her freedom. She murders men when they infringe on her agency. Like Lola-Lola, she gets away with her crime.

In 1996 the first lesbian film noir "Bound" directed by the Wachowski brothers, starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliamo, hit the box office. The film boasted having lesbian sexpert Susie Bright as the technical advisor on the lesbian sex scenes. "Bound" is a story about a gangsterıs moll, Violet (Tilly) and ex-con handywoman Corky (Gershon) who plot to steal two million dollars from the Mafia.

This film brings together all of the threads so far discussed involving freedom from being bound by law and order. The film "Bound" takes us one step further: it blatantly queers the noir formula. Corky and Violet, a femme/butch couple, work to outsmart both the mob and the police in order to get what they want. They do so by openly lying, cheating, killing, and stealing from their male keepers. To top it all off, not only do they get away with it, but they get to ride off into the sunset together in a red chevy truck while the background music plays Tom Jonesısong, "Sheıs A Lady."

In viewing these films we see a pattern emerging: for women to be truly free they must be free to be "bad". Men have always given themselves space for such complex characterizations. We are not advocating murder and mayhem, however, women need to give themselves space to explore their darker more basic impulses. Movies reflect back to us what we want to see about ourselves. In the films discussed we see reflected back images of unbound women who may or may not be lesbian. At the very least, these women are struggling to be freed from superimposed definitions and societyıs conventions concerning power, agency, sexuality and gender. They are out of bounds.

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