Laura

I’m not sure what my problem is, but there is something about this movie that I feel I’m missing. Something about the movie itself or my understanding of it feel incomplete, and I’m not sure if that’s part of the mystery of the movie or because I don’t understand something, but there is something that’s preventing the whole thing to click in my head.

Many of the comparisons we’ve made in class have been between Laura and Citizen Kane. While I do see the similarities between these two films, I feel Laura is much more similar to The Third Man. To begin with, the main character is believed to be dead more the entire beginning of the movie, then comes back to shock everybody. These charactes are originally to be somehow better than they are revealed to be when we actually meet them: Harry Lime is Martins’ friend and Laura seems more like the essence of goodness rather than an actual person. Laura is a good person herself, but compared to her memory, she is missing something. (A key difference I will note is that Laura has very little impact on characters when she returns, whereas Harry’s return from the dead seems to cause all of the action to become more intense and frenzied.) The romantic connections in both films seem a little forced. It is never clear exactly how Harry really feels about Anna, how Martins feels about Anna or about how Laura feels about Lydecker or McPherson or how they really feel about her. Even when we are made aware of these connections (if only vaguely) they are not natural and seem out of place. I’m not even sure Martins’ supposed feelings for Anna are necessary to the plot. A lot of time and energy is spent in both films trying to find the bad guy, who is eventually killed.

Another connection I was unaware of is that both of these films are categorized as film noir. A friend of mine mentioned that The Third Man is considered film noir, and I felt so silly that I missed that because now it seems so obvious. In fact, I’d say that The Third Man portrays a film noir film (as described in class and the articles) more clearly than Laura did. I understand why Laura is considered film noir, but it feels like too much work to come to that conclusion. According to “No Place for a Woman,” the woman (femme fatale) is seen as an object by her possessive husband, and she kills him to get herself out of the relationship. However, once Laura discovers that her relationship with Lydecker is controlling and not good for her, she very calmly and quietly tells him she doesn’t want to see him anymore, and Lydecker is the one to become violent. (A little aside: did anyone else notice that Lydecker shot Laura in the face without even taking the time to notice it wasn’t her the first time, but when he tries again he stops and talks to her, giving her an opportunity to stop him that she wouldn’t have had the first time. Any thoughts?)

The article also states that the femme fatale was a symbol that rejected traditional family roles. I wouldn’t say this is true of Laura, because she seemed perfectly open to the idea of marriage, but the emotions that are usually involved with getting married are absent in Laura. This is like more of a rejection of the family values rather than the roles: she is fulfilling her role in society as a woman by getting married, but she doesn’t seem to care much about it either way. When she kisses McPherson, there is no indication she feels anything for him. It was a very bizarre moment when two characters spontaneously kiss and then move on with the story—there were no emotions connected to it, and I had no idea if it would happen until it really did.

It also said that this character would have a strong sexual presence, but Laura’s presence is barely noticeable, sexual or otherwise. Sometimes it feels like the clock or her portrait or the obnoxious lamp had more personality than she did, and sometimes they were even featured more prominently in the shot than Laura herself.

I’ve been thinking about the final shot of the movie, with the smashed clock. I can’t come up with a very satisfying explanation for it, but what I did come up with was that the clock could be a visual representation of the whole affair. One of the first things mentioned in the movie was the clock, and as the secret to the murder it plays an important role in the plot. It was also tangible proof of Lydecker’s presence in Laura’s life. Lydecker’s death brings an end to his interference and the threat on her life, so the ordeal is over. Since the clock is broken, she would get rid of it and no longer have any reminders or the ordeal. The broken clock as the final shot seems like the filmmakers visually saying “The End.”