Madere - The Devil's Own

With its opening scene, The Devil's Own shows how family is a central theme of the plot. This scene opens with the Irish countryside, showing the possible and natural peacefulness and beauty of the country. Frankie Maquire is fishing with his father and returns home to have a family meal with his mother and little sister. The peacefulness of the scene does not last long, however, as Frankie's father is brutally murdered at point-blank range right in front of his eyes. In some ways, this scene shows how family ties can be someone's downfall. Not only does Frankie's father's supposed family ties to republican sympathizers prove to be the reason for his death, but as seen in Frankie's young, horrified eyes after his father's murder, his love and ties to his father has caused him to feel as if he's lost everything. On the other hand, however, this scene and its implications about family also end up being the way in which Frankie comes to believe he can regain all he lost with his father's murder. Frankie forms ties to the IRA and finds a family. Not only do these people fight with him in the cause, but they offer him protection and refuge, even leading him to America where he encounters the O'Meara family and once again finds refuge and forms family ties. His family with the IRA also gives him a cause to achieve--to exact revenge on the people who killed his father, which in turn gives him a purpose and reason for living.

Cutler: Frantic

    In the thriller Frantic, Dr. Richard Walker finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when his wife is kidnapped in Paris. There are many noir elements in this film including fear/anxiety, helplessness, and moral ambiguity. All of these elements create an intense feeling of psychological entrapment for Walker.
    When Walker's wife is kidnapped, he immediately begins the frantic search to find her. He is overcome by feelings of fear and anxiety because the worst case scenario has happened. He then feels helpless because he is in a foreign country and there's a language barrier, so it further hurts his chance of finding his wife. Also, no one believes him and the local people don't trust him because he's American. He is isolated in a foreign country. Walker realizes the moral ambiguity in the situation when he meets Michelle and learns of why his wife was kidnapped. On his search for his wife, he feels entrapped because of the bizarre circumstances. He meets Michelle who agrees to help him but she furthers adds to his fear and anxiety because she acts as a femme fatale and temptress.

In this picture, the framing places Walker as the central figure because he is in the foreground. He is more dominant than Michelle indicating that he has taken control of the situation. For most of the film, Michelle adds to Walker's entrapment because she is difficult. This scene at the end of the film shows that Walker is dominant and has taken control of the situation and no longer feels trapped by the femme fatale. She is one of the main sources of the moral ambiguity aspect of the film, so this scene shows that Walker has risen above that and will finally be reunited with his missing wife. 

Ramon- The Devil's Own

Americans and Irish alike have a strong emphasis on their family. This is shown very much so in The Devil’s Own. The O’Meara family gains a new member when Frankie McGuire is placed into their family the local judge. Much like Patriot Games, we have the IRA family and the American family side by side. The dynamics of IRA family is not so much prevalent in The Devil’s Own. Therefore, a scene I would like to focus on is the post-confirmation party when Tom O’Meara fully recognizes Frankie as a member of their Irish-American family. O’Meara does two things which Pakula purposefully puts high emphasis on in this scene. First, Frankie is asked to be part of a photo with O’Meara and his partner, Edwin Diaz. Some say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I agree. As a native New Orleanian, on numerous occasions we have had to evacuate for hurricanes. On our checklist of items to grab, the number one item is a photo album of the past 25 years starting with my parent’s wedding picture. If some day we lost out home to a natural disaster, we would still have our photos to look back upon and memories will never be forgotten. Second, Frankie is included in the traditional Irish dance by O’Meara. Frankie feels like he is back at home in Ireland, and buys into the O’Meara family lifestyle. By a simple dance, he is able to relax his mind of all the bad things he has done in his past and remember his heritage. 

Ruffino-The Devil's Own

Frankie McGuire (or Rory) came to America to aid his organizational family, the IRA and was thrown into an entirely different kind family. The O'Meara's a family of Irish American's welcome Rory in with open arms. They include Rory in all family events he attends the conformation of Tom's daughter, parties, and even goes to the bar with Tom. Where they play pool together Irish vs. Italians. Tom becomes like a father figure to Rory. Their relationship strengthens progressively during the movie and by the end of the movie we realize how deep their bond runs. In the scene where Tom is trying to get Rory of off the boat to take him into police custody, he loses his gun. And even though Rory has the experience and opportunity to kill Tom, he doesn't because Tom has become a part of his family, this shows how the bonds of family aid the survival of O'Mear At the end of the movie Tom's driving of the boat serves as a final symbol of how he has become a father to Rory.

Butcher - The Devil's Own

When Frankie McGuire arrives in the U.S. he is sent to the O’Meara household. The Irish-American family immediately welcome Frankie in, and he soon becomes just like a member of their own. Tom especially takes to him, jovial at the thought of another male companion in the house of four women. Frankie, known to the O’Mearas as ‘Rory,’ is the son that Tom always wished to have. At his arrival, he meant to simply use the O’Mearas as a safe house, but by the end of The Devil’s Own, Rory develops a strong bond with his host family. As his situation with Burke complicates, he comes to the defense of the O’Mearas.

One afternoon, Tom and Sheila discover intruders in their home, all masked men looking for Rory’s stash of money. While they struggle to fight off the intruders, Rory intervenes to help the O’Mearas. Knowing that Burke was responsible, Rory takes action to make Burke pay for harming his surrogate family. Armed with a gun, Rory pays a visit to Burke to send a warning. Rory exhibits his love for his new American family in his persistence to protect them from further harm. It is pertinent for him to confront the party responsible in the only way he knows how: through violence. From the beginning of his life, violence was prevalent in Ireland. Fatherless at a young age, gunfights and struggle against those stifling the IRA became the norm.

“It’s not an American story; It’s an Irish one,” reiterates Rory to Tom. Rory’s initial plans to acquire weapons in the U.S. bring together these two Irishmen. One is a proud Irish-American cop, and the other, a true Irishman fighting with the IRA. Connected by heritage these men form a bond with each other like that of a father and son.

Cutler: The Devil's Own

In The Devil's Own, family is an important theme and shown as central in the Irish and Irish-American way of life. Frankie McGuire enters Tom O'Meara's family under false pretenses and witnesses his close-knit nuclear family. As a child, Frankie witnessed his father's murder and it changed his perspective. He became an IRA terrorist and the film chronicles his attempt at buying and shipping missiles for the IRA cause. In America, he stays with the  O'Meara family, who are unaware of his true identity. They welcome him and Tom seems pleased to have another man in the house, thinking he is just helping a fellow Irishman trying to start a new life in America.

The scene when the O'Meara family is celebrating Morgan's confirmation is an important representation of Frankie's (who goes by Rory Devaney) acceptance by Tom and his family. The large celebration at the O'Meara house shows Frankie dancing with the family. Tom embraces Frankie and is happy that he's there celebrating with their family. Throughout the movie, Tom treats Frankie like a son and feels betrayed when he finds out that Frankie is not really who he thought he was. The familial theme of this film can be characterized by Frankie and Tom's father-and-son-like relationship and the confirmation party scene personifies their bond.

Kuebler-The Devil's Own

In this film we see once again many different types of families. These range from those of the IRA, to friendships and brotherhood, to the family of Tom O'Meara. It is hard to say that a man or woman are anything without the support from those around them and people that care for them. People rely on one another and hope to count on those that they trust. Yet, when something attempts to take away that bond from a person it is likely to start a war that only has one outcome.




In the case of Tom O'Meara and his family we see a close-knit family that represents an average family that has a large level of love, trust, and respect. Tom is a good cop who knows what is best for his family and what is best is for him to stay alive. There are a few instances in this film that show Tom reconsidering his position because of the danger that it causes and the possibility of losing his family. Similarly, he is frozen in terror when the masked men hold his wife as a hostage for a moment. He would rather lose his own life than risk that of his wife and daughters. As a family man he cannot allow anything to step between him and those he protects and this is shown when he is forced to take down Frankie. He does not want to hurt him but is left with no choice because he put Tom's family in danger, killed his partner, and destroyed the man that Tom thought Frankie was even though it was just an act. Family is the reason why Tom lived and Frankie died, he had something higher to live for in the end.

Madere - Patriot Games

In Patriot Games, families serve as a reason and means for action. One such family is the main character's (as played Harrison Ford), Jack Ryan, his wife Caroline, and their daughter Sally. For Ryan, protecting his family from the terrorist Sean Miller becomes his main goal. In a way, Ryan almost becomes defined by his relationship to his family and the lengths he will go to assure their safety. This definition becomes apparent from the very beginning of the movie in the scene where the Ryans are on vacation and having a family game night. These early scenes before the inciting action of the film (where Jack kills Sean Miller's brother) define Jack as a "family man."

The inciting incident of the film also surrounds family. Jack intervenes in an attempt on the life of a member of the British royal family, killing Sean Miller's brother. This incites the plot of the rest of the film where Miller then attacks Jack Ryan and his family in order to avenge his brother's death. The loyalty felt by Ryan and Miller (which drives their actions in the film) makes the characters somewhat equal and able to understand each other on some levels, as Miller instinctively knows that the best way to act revenge on Jack Ryan is to strike out at his family.

Another family that has an important presence in the film and also serves as a means for creating action, even the inciting incident, is the splintered sect of IRA that attacks the royal family, of which the Miller brothers are apart. This sect plays not only an important part in the inciting incident in the film, but also, through other events in the film, shows another level of family loyalty and dedication where fierce, irrational nationalism and the "If you're not with us, you're against us" mentality comes into play.

Gooch- Patriot Games

Families have been described as the core to society, and the corner stone on which society is built. So how does one define such a powerful and important phenomenon? It is not necessarily marked by blood. It is a group of people whose individual members have come to define themselves and their path in life by their belonging to this group. This is the group that knows their every secret, and has most accepted them when no one else would. In the film, Patriot Games, families of all different origins and sizes play a crucial role in bringing emotion and intensity to the film. The involvement of families shows how the characters are so passionate. When the family is attacked, fear is lost and revenge and protection must be achieved at any cost. We see blood families, for example, in the Ryan’s, the royal family, and in Miller and his brother. There are institutional families in the group of Irish terrorists, and the FBI agency. The film consists of constant clashing between these families as they all take their turns passionately attacking and defending. While there are governments, agencies, and countries involved, in the end, it comes down to the interaction between two families that causes the struggle to begin and escalate until on is destroyed. Two of the main families are the Ryan family and Miller’s broken family. These two families could not be more opposite, and the family in which they belong defines each member’s place in life. The plot of the film results from the unexpected encounter between Ryan and Miller. When Jack kills Miller’s brother, the only family he has left, Miller will stop at nothing to destroy Jack’s family. So, of course, the attempted killing of Jack’s family must be the final step that brings the plot to a close. The perspective of the families allows the audience to look more deeply into the individual, and to see where he or she is coming from. Miller, for example, is not just a traitor to us, but someone who has been brought up in a violent family setting and has now lost the one person who defined his existence, the one person who made him human. Without his brother he was lost and desperate and had nothing to hold onto. So, by seeing his family upbringing and connections we see how his rage becomes so incredibly magnified to the point of delusion. Ryan took away his life and so he is determined to take away all that Ryan lives for- his family.

There are many different families present in Patriot Games. Each family plays a very important role in the plot and helps to drive the plot. The most notable families are the Ryan's, the IRA, the CIA, the miller's, and the royal family. The Ryan's and the IRA drive the plot the most of these families.

A faction of the IRA is initially responsible for the attack on the royal family that Jack Ryan thwarts. Wile he is defending the motorcade, Ryan shoots and kills one of the attacker's who also happens to be the brother of the other IRA member. Although the IRA is split over whether the attack was a good idea, they do not want Sean Miller to revenge his brother. Miller however is determined t do so and with the help of his fellow IRA members, escapes prison and is able to track down Ryan and his family in the US. Miller would not have been able to spring from prison and track down the Ryan's. His quest to revenge his brother and kill those that get in his way is dependent on the participation of his IRA family.

Jack Ryan on the other hand does not wish to act out on behalf of his family, he only tries to protect and do what is best for them. Initially, he even avoids returning to the CIA because he realizes he should be close to his wife and daughter. When he does return to the CIA, it is because his family was attacked and he wants to do everything he can to protect them. His decisions are always with their good in mind.

Families play an important role in Patriot Games. Whether nuclear or organizational, there are many families that drive the plot of the movie. They are the driving force in much of the plot and cause many of the problems that occur.

Butcher - Families in Patriot Games

There are several families, both nuclear and organizational, that are present in Patriot Games. One could argue that families are, in fact, the central theme that the whole movie revolves around. The action that takes place is all action that threatens the family. Some of the “families” represented in the film are: the Ryan family, Miller’s family, the Royal family, the IRA, the CIA, and the Naval Academy.

The IRA is an interesting family to observe in this film. On the one hand, we see the Irish as incredibly loyal to each other. The spokesman for the IRA refuses to give Jack Ryan any information on his fellow Irishmen, claiming that he would never betray his people. This is a very important point that reverberates throughout the film. Because of the conflict between the British and the Irish, many Irish were seen as betraying their people for pledging allegiance to the crown, in some way or another. When Jack Ryan approaches the IRA spokesman in the Irish bar, he scoffs Ryan in his attempt, announcing this publicly to the rest of the bar patrons.

On the other hand, the splinter groups of the IRA will kill their own if that means that they will become closer to achieving their ends. Any man, Irish or not, that threats their goals will be taken down. We see this when Miller’s sect of the IRA kills off “Jimmy boy.” Their sect focuses on violent actions that send a message. Toward the end of the film, it is clear that Sean’s motives are different from the group, and when they intervene with him, Sean will kill them.

Sean Miller’s family, consisting of his brother and himself, is broken when Jack interferes and accidentally shoots his brother. This is the inciting incident that sets Patriot Games into motion. From that point forward, Sean’s motivation to seek revenge for his brother death pushes the plot forward. Act II of the film begins when Sean threatens the lives of Jack Ryan’s wife and daughter, chasing them on the highway till their car crashes. Miller continues to pursue the Ryan family till the very end of the film, which ends in a daring boat chase between Jack and Sean.

Jack Ryan is extremely protective of his family. After his pregnant wife and daughter careen into a highway divider, Ryan does everything in his power to bring justice to the situation. Always a man of action, Ryan becomes completely involved in the case when he re-joins the CIA, hoping to contribute to their search for Miller and the rest of his IRA group. Even his wife, Dr. Ryan, who had resented his former place in the CIA, supports him in his efforts to hunt Miller down. At the end of the film, Jack puts his own life on the line to ensure the safety of his family, and the Royal family.

It seems as though familial relationships are central to the plot of Patriot Games, and these relationships function within the device of political tension. The violence that Miller's IRA splinter group inflicts affects all the characters within the film. People find the need to create close ties with one another, and when the lives of family members are threatened, tension is created. This tension is what engages the audience and makes them anxious. We start to imagine what we would do if our family and friends were in danger. Harrison Ford, acts as the hero that we would all wish to be if encountered with this situation.

Cutler: Patriot Games

In Patriot Games, family loyalty and legitimacy are two main themes. Throughout the film, there are many traditional and organizational families that add to plot. The traditional families include the Ryans, the Millers, the Royal Family, and the Jacksons. The organizational families are the IRA, the IRA splinter group, the CIA, and the Naval Academy. These nontraditional families are essential to the overall familial theme of Patriot Games because the people in these organizations treat each other like members of a family.
The two main traditional families, the Ryans and the Millers, create several plot points in the film. The inciting incident is when Jack Ryan stops a terrorist attack on the British Royal Family and kills Paddy Miller. Throughout the rest of the film, Sean Miller tries to get revenge for his brother's death. The first plot point is when Miller escapes from custody and plans his revenge and a next kidnapping attempt on Lord Holmes. The next plot point is when Miller and the IRA faction attacks Ryan's family. This leads Ryan to re-enter the CIA and plan revenge on Miller for almost killing his wife and daughter. The last plot point is when Miller and his group unsuccessfully attack Lord Holmes at Ryan's family home. Miller eventually chooses avenging the death of his brother over the plan to kidnap Lord Holmes which shows that he is more loyal to his blood family then his comrades in the IRA subgroup. He kills his comrades and pursues Ryan instead of trying to abduct Lord Holmes.
One thing that Jack Ryan and Sean Miller have in common is their need for revenge. The film focuses on Miller's revenge attempts against Ryan for killing his brother. Ryan then tries to get revenge against Miller because he almost killed his family. Their shared loyalty is part of the central theme of family.

Torres - Patriot Games

Families play an important role in the movie Patriot Games (1992), as family loyalty and the fear of losing family are main themes. There are several families within the movie; some are traditional families including blood relatives only, others are non-traditional families that include friends who are integrated into the family although they have no blood ties, and some are organizational families that are composed of coworkers or a group of people fighting for the same cause. Examples of traditional families include the Ryan family (Jack, Caroline, Sally), the Miller family (Sean and his brother), the Holmes family (Lord William, his wife and son and, on a broader scale, the rest of the Royal Family), and the Jackson family (Lt. Cmdr. Robby and his wife). The Holmes family also includes a non-traditional member in the form of Lord William's private secretary, who is trusted and treated like family, thus making his betrayal more meaningful. Examples of organizational families that appear in the film include the CIA, the IRA, the IRA subgroup, and the Naval Academy.These families are paramount in the plot development of the film. The Ryan family and the Miller family, especially Sean Miller, is responsible for several plot points that push the story forward. In the inciting incident of the film, the IRA subgroup's terrorist plot is foiled when Jack Ryan steps in and kills Sean's brother. If it weren't for this interaction, none of the events that followed would have taken place. In plot point one, Sean Miller escapes from police custody with the intent to seek revenge on Ryan for his brother's death. The IRA subgroup is an important part of this plot point because their sense of loyalty to the family that is their subgroup is what brought them to rescue Sean. The mid-act climax is when things begin to get complicated. Because of their relationship to Sean, the IRA subgroup assists Sean in his revenge attempt on Ryan's family, successfully injuring his wife and daughter. However, after he learns that the wife and daughter are still alive a conflict of interest begins to develop between Sean and the rest of the group. Sean's true loyalties lie with avenging his brother (blood relative) and not with his fellow IRA subgroup members. At plot piont two, the Ryans have a welcome home party for their daughter that Lord William is invited to, thus enticing the IRA subgroup to make another attempt at his life. There is a lot of family interactions and developments in Act 3. We discover that the royal secretary is the traitor who is the IRA subgroup's informant, that betraying the royal family. We also see that when Sean is forced to choose between remaining loyal to the IRA subgroup and remaining loyal to his brother, he chose his brother and killed the members of the IRA subgroup in order to pursue Jack. These series of interactions, disturbances, and threats against the family structure are the main theme of the film, designed to inspire terror at the thought of one's family being in jeopardy.

Kuebler-Frantic

In this film we see Harrison Ford in a different role than accustomed. While he is still the hero there is a sense of mortality to his character and fear. He is a normal man who is trapped in Paris looking for his wife who has been kidnapped for reasons he is unaware of until later.

This movie uses many noir elements and to touch on three of them only breeches the tip of the iceberg. In this movie we see suspense, oblique lighting, and of course the femme fatale. Each scene throughout this movie is more tense than the next situation and as he goes deeper into the underworld we find that he is becoming more and more trapped. The deeper he goes into the world the darker the movie gets in terms of lighting. Lastly, the femme fatale finds her way into every aspect of this movie even when trying to run away she only brings Dr. Walker deeper into the underworld. By the end of the movie Walker has turned away from the law and the light and embraced the darkness of this underworld and becomes trapped. It is not until the climax in which the femme fatale is shot and Walker has his wife back that he truly departs from this entrapment. Until this point he has traveled too deep into the darkness and followed a woman that he learns to depend on and protect. He was unable to walk away from this situation due to guilt, heroics, and a sense of morality and care for his wife. all of these elements provide excellent reasons for psychological entrapment.



This pictures gives an amazing mise en scene. Harrison Ford is well lit while the femme fatale in the background is shrouded in darkness; showing their true natures and giving an idea where the dimension of the movie will turn. The lighting gives us an idea about the characters. The woman is the focus of this pictures because our eyes are drawn to the center of the picture and her eyes pierce through the darkness surrounding her. The tight and small frame of this pictures shows that these characters are intertwined and unable to separate until the very end. Lastly, the personal and intimate nature of this picture shows that there will be some tension between these characters and future pain between them due to the good and dark nature of the two heros.

Ramon- Presumed Innocent

The entire movie is focused on the guilt of Rusty Sabich. Whether it is the guilt that he had a rather intense love affair with Carolyn Polhemus, the entire film is focused on guilty and not guilty. In the same light, Rusty is found accused in the murder and rape of his mistress. The irony of the situation is that Rusty can not comes to terms with his wife in this situation because he cannot bring himself to admit to this wife that he cheated on her. However, he really did not need to have that guilt of cheating on Barbara because she already had a hunch that he was cheating on her with Carolyn. Barbara did not want Carolyn around in Rusty’s life anymore, so she killed Carolyn with Rusty’s hammer. In terms of Rusty’s guilt and the irony it possesses, as said before, he was already guilty in the eyes of his wife. However, that guilt Rusty possessed never does leave him as he still grieves the loss of Carolyn. Within all of this guilt, I would like to take to opportunity to bring up a point I found while analyzing this prompt. I believe that Rusty knew that his wife murdered Carolyn the whole time. If he did not believe so, then why would he not want her to testify? If she did tell the jury about Rusty and Carolyn’s affair, then that would only be throwing her own husband under the bus. She loves him too much to do that to him. He also loves Barbara too much for her life to be ruined. He knew that if she testified, then she would admit to the murder of Carolyn. The final scene is great because it is the moment when the circle of guilt is completed, and all loose ends are tied up for what me know is the time being.

Madere - Frantic

In his film Frantic, Roman Polanski uses many elements of noir to create the setting for Harrison Ford's distressed search for his wife. From the opening credits of the film, Polanski sets up the noir feeling of Frantic. The credits roll as though they are cars traveling on a busy highway, first appearing large and becoming smaller and smaller the further down the road they get. This and the opening scene with Harrison Ford's character Dr. Walker and his wife traveling in the cab gives ample opportunity to show the cityscape of Paris. This element, also known as the city in decline, portrays Paris as a seedy character of its own in the film. It also shows how Paris, especially given that Harrison Ford's character is an American who doesn't speak French well, adds to the element of psychological entrapment.

Another noir element employed by Polanski is the use of not only suspense, but helpless suspense. Once Harrison Ford's character steps out of the shower to find his wife gone, he is at a loss of how to address the situation. He begins the film-long search for her by wandering around the hotel looking for her, then by asking the hotel staff if they'd seen her. Finally, he ventures outside of the hotel to ask people if they might have seen anything. After finding a piece of his wife's jewelry, Dr. Walker seems unable to determine what his next move should be. He instinctively knows his wife is in danger, yet he doesn't know how he should go about looking for her. This theme follows throughout the film--with Dr. Walker helplessly grasping at straws and finding himself in dangerous situations while he tries to figure out what happened to his wife and how to get her back.

Still another noir element in Frantic is the femme fatale, embodied by the character Michelle. Everything about Michelle, from her heavy eye make-up to her leather clothing to her involvement in drugs as both an abuser and a mule, reveals her femme fatale status. She agrees to help Dr. Walker for her own selfish reasons as is constantly shown with her demands to get paid for her work transporting the bomb. It isn't until the scene in the cafe with the police from the embassy that she truly shows herself as a trustworthy ally.
The scene where Dr. Walker meets Michelle is particularly noir-ish. The lighting in the scene is dim, with highlights on the door and the murdered DeDe. Even the characters in the scene, Michelle and Dr. Walker, are obscured by the dim lighting. This scene is significant because it is the first time Dr. Walker comes into real contact with violence in the film and the dim lighting with the murder highlighted shows the significance of this fact, as well as foretells of more violence still to come in the search for Mrs. Walker. The camera proxemic of this scene is social, so as to reveal both Dr. Walker and Michelle in the scene, as well as the dark hallway and staircase in which the scene takes place (and the initial struggle between Dr. Walker and Michelle) and DeDe's murder. Again, the camera proxemic serves as foreshadowing: Dr. Walker and Michelle have fallen into a dark world and more darkness is to follow with violence accompanying it, and there will continue to be somewhat of a struggle between Michelle and Dr. Walker in the film. The relatively loose framing of the scene gives the characters some space to move around. This shows that both of them have choices in the film--Dr. Walker has the choice to stay true to his morals and not sink too far down in the dark world to achieve his goal and Michelle has the choice to be trustworthy, to work loyally with Dr. Walker, and to act for reasons that are less selfish and prompted by instant gratification. The framing is not too loose, however, revealing the fact that Dr. Walker and Michelle are not completely in control of how the story will play out from there on; they are somewhat at the mercy of Mrs. Walker's kidnappers.

Morris- Frantic

In Frantic, Harrison Ford plays an American in Paris whose wife goes missing. Because of the culture difference, no one seems to believe she has been taken, leaving Ford's character Dr. Richard Walker to find her on his own, leaving him "Frantic".
This movie has several elements of film noir including anxiety, isolation and helplessness, especially in the scene where Walker goes through the suitcase. The wrong suitcase that his wife ended up with is the only clue that he has to where his wife is, so he goes through it.
This scene is in the beginning of the movie after he has found his wife's bracelet so he knows she has been taken. Also, he is the only one that believes finding her bracelet is a clue to her disappearance. He is isolated as an outsider, isolated in his belief that his wife was kidnapped and isolated in his room. He is anxious, and does the only thing he can think of, break into the suitcase and look for clues. He is helpless, and needs to find something to do to find his wife.
This is an example of psychological entrapment because he is doing things that he would not normally do. He rifles through a stranger's bag because he is desperate to find clues. Going through the suitcase leads him to the Blue Parrot, and on the trail to finding his wife.

In this scene, the key lighting suggests the suspense within the scene. The framing is tight on Walker and the suitcase, and the camera proxemics is close to the subject. This all suggests how Walker is in a psychological entrapment.

Torres - Frantic

In the movie Frantic Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a rather successful American doctor who has been thrown into a very noir nightmare. The movie is a psychological thriller that contains several noir elements, including moral ambiguity, fear, anxiety, paranoia, violence, sexual tension, and the feelings of entrapment, helplessness, and isolation. The use of a femme fatal figure, Michelle, supplies the moral ambiguity and sexual tension. Although Dr. Walker loves his wife and is desperate to find her, he is forced to keep the company of a young woman who cares more about having fun and getting her money than anything else. Because she refuses to leave his side, Michelle provides a source of psychological entrapment by forcing Dr. Walker to deal with her antics and the sexual tension her presence creates, which doesn't exactly make finding his wife any easier. A sense of betrayal (especially by authority figures) provides the film with paranoia, fear and anxiety. Dr. Walker feels let down by the police force's lack of seriousness about his situation, and even the American embassy is unable to sufficiently help him. He is let down by everyone and forced to do the investigating himself. This feeling of having no one to turn to for help certainly contributes to the feeling of psychological entrapment. Also, being in Paris and unable to speak or understand French puts Dr. Walker at a serious disadvantage, as well as supplies the film with anxiety and a sense of isolation and helplessness. Being unable to understand people on the street or ask them questions is enough to make anyone feel isolated and trapped.

This scene exemplifies the entrapment felt be Dr. Walker. For the most part, the lighting is low key, except for a harsh highlight at the top of the frame. This shows the dismal situation that he is in; knowing that his wife has been kidnapped, that the police won't take him seriously or help him, not knowing how to contact the kidnappers after the first failed attempt at an exchange, etc. The framing is tight, as Dr. Walker's own body works as a barricade, taking up about 1/3 of the frame. He is both trapped in the frame and in the mirror, with only a very small possible escape route to the right. This greatly emphasizes the psychological aspect of the entrapment as he is literally confronting himself in this situation. This scene also shows that Dr. Walker is not entirely blameless in this situation. Just as he is blocking himself from escaping in this scene, he has also hindered himself in his situation by not learning French before going to a French speaking country (or at least carrying a pocket dictionary) and by ignoring his wife while he was taking a shower. The camera proxemics are personal, revealing just his face and upper torso. This reiterates the confrontation he is having with himself as well as shows the viewer his seriousness and emotions by making the focus his face. The camera proxemics also help to box him into the frame, further emphasizing his entrapment.

Kuebler-Presumed Innocent

In this ending moment where all questions are answered we find Rusty struggling with the fact that one of the women he once loved is now dead. We also find that not only is she dead, but even while cleared of murder Rusty is still deserving of guilt. While his wife is the one who killed Rusty's lover, he is still in some sense responsible. Rusty was the one having the affair and due to his lack of love and care for his wife she went crazy. This was a great surprise to me but a very unique end to the movie. The guilt is manifested by the hammer and the court room as the movie closes. Rusty tells the audience that there was a crime and someone was to be punished. He does not mention who is punished but we can imagine that he is referring to every party involved. The crime of passion, to make love and to murder for love and fear hurts many parties involved.


During the scene between Rusty and his wife she explains that she could not help but kill Carolyn. She was originally thinking of ending her own life but instead would "destroy the destroyer" and bring their family back to a healthy place. Rusty in this moment realizes that while his wife did in fact murder Carolyn, he had just as much a part in her death as the murderer. His cruelty to his family was a crime that caused the woman he was obsessed with to be killed and be framed for the crime. So while his wife steps downstairs with a "I did it, I fooled them all" Rusty realizes that he has never once fooled his wife and he is just as guilty if not more for all crimes present in this movie.

Cutler: Presumed Innocent

Unlike in The Fugitive, the audience of Presumed Innocent doesn't know if the main character, Rusty Sabich, is innocent. There's evidence leading us to believe the Sabich actually killed Carolyn. When he is no longer under suspicion, he returns to his regular life until he finds the murder weapon. He confronts his wife who admits to killing Carolyn. Sabich is overcome with guilt because he knows that even though he didn't actually kill Carolyn, he is the reason why she is dead. His affair with Carolyn sparked his wife to kill her with a hammer and frame Sabich with fingerprints and sperm. Sabich was the catalyst for his wife's jealousy that caused her to viciously kill Carolyn.
Sabich's guilt is one of the most important themes in this film because he is not only guilty about Carolyn's death, but also his son's future. He knows that if he doesn't destroy the evidence that shows that his wife is the murderer, his son will live without a mother. He ends up taking an unethical approach and destroys the evidence to save himself from his own guilt. Although Sabich didn't actually kill Carolyn, through the trial and his discovery of the hammer, he feels immense guilt for her death.