Bloo - Frantic

‘’Do you know where you are?’’ This is what Sondra Walker says to her husband Dr. Richard Walker as they drive from the airport to their Paris hotel. They are in Paris to attend a medical convention. These words foreshadow the feelings of displacement that Ford’s character will experience. After they have checked into their hotel, Dr. Richard Walker takes a shower and in those few minutes his wife disappears. This disappearance and a confusion between two identical pieces of luggage leads Ford into the Paris underground.

Polanski makes us of several noir elements in the film namely isolation, helplessness, and the femme fatale. When Sondra has vanished, Richard leaves the hotel to search for his wife. Through his wife disappearance, Richard must step out of his comfort zone, which is shown when he decides to search the hotel lobby. The camera follows Richard from a distance so that he looks slightly diminished and out of his element. Isolation and helplessness are also shown when he wanders into a flower shop and tries to explain to the people who work there about his wife. However, they don’t speak English and can’t help him. This is an example of the isolation and helplessness he feels since his wife was the one who arranged everything for him and she spoke French. Another example is when he goes to the local cops and the American Embassy but neither are much help. We see how Walker struggles in Paris, unable to speak French, disoriented, and unable to convince anyone that his wife has been kidnapped, this creates the feeling of isolation. Along his way in search of his wife, he meets Michelle, a mysterious young woman who picked up Sondra’s suitcase. She is the femme fatale in this film. She is constantly tempting him and as the classic temptress she dies at the end of the film.

In this scene, we see Richard Walker standing in a parking lot. The lighting is low key which creates a suspense except for his face which expresses worry and anxiety. The camera proxemics for this scene is social, we see him standing alone in the parking lot which refers to the isolation he feels. The framing is loose which shows that he eventually will overcome his entrapment.