Film Noir. Narrative.

In the film noir genre, narrative has been used to tie the whole story together. As the narrator is tying everything together, we can understand the story better. In this genre, narrative is used to bring together real life events and memories, while the unusual side-by-side view of temporalities gives the viewer a premonition of what will happen or of what has happened in a flashback. The leading male usually addresses the spectator as an impersonal 'you' to give the effect that the listener is smug, unsympathetic and ubelieving. This is because the listener wont sympathise with someone who has lost their life or about to lose their life by thugs who are dealing in illegal games. This then gives the impression that the listener is being talked to and that the lead male character has a chance to explain themselves. Voice-overs and flashbacks were persistent, stylistic and narrative elements when film noir was first around in the early 1940's to the late 1950's. Often, we need to inquire how much the narrator knows and whether they are telling the truth. Voice-over is a key narrative aspect in the following movies: Mildred Pierce, Gilda, The Lady from Shanghai, and Out of the Past.