Ruffino-Frantic

Almost everything in this shot has a dark lighting which shows the dismal and uneasy feeling of the movie, but the highlight of the shot is Michelle's hand resting on Walkers chest and his hand grasping her wrist going to move it that is what the director wants the audience to focus on. Walkers face is serious and apprehensive, while Michelle's is calm and alluring. This shot is a perfect representation of the sexual tension that is seen throughout the movie between these two. The camera proximity is social which is appropriate because it makes this moment less intense as opposed to the option of having a close up on their hands. The frame is a mix between loose and tight Michelle's side of the shot has a little room showing that she is in a position to move about. While Walkers side of the shot has him partially cut out showing that he is trapped and has no place to go. So this shot perfectly shows one of the most important elements of his psychological entrapment, sexual tension.

Polanski made Frantic into a perfect noir nightmare, the psychological thriller shows many aspects of noir elements such as violence, fear, anxiety, isolation, moral ambiguity, disorientation, loneliness, and sexual tension. All of these elements help produce the sense of entrapment that Dr. Walker must be feeling. These are the feelings and actions that lead Richard to feel a sense of responsibility for both Michelle and his Wife. They are the reason why he keeps putting himself in potentially life threatening situations from which he cannot safely remove himself.

Michelle, is such an important part of this movie she plays the role of the femme fatal supporting sexual tension as well as the sense of moral ambiguity. She is the temptress for Dr. Walker ,even though he loves his wife which he shows in his desperation to find her,. Her appeal is obviously one of sexuality, she is extremely attractive and she is very tempting but there is more to it. I think that Walker identifies with her because she is lost as well. I feel like this appeals to Walker because he is lonely himself in an unfamiliar place which leads to his feelings of loneliness and disorientation. Walker is forced to deal with her troubles as well as the sexual tension she creates, which makes everything more interesting to say the least. And she does not make the task of finding his wife any easier but he takes her in simply because she literally refuses to leave his side. which all adds to the feeling of entrapment.

Dr. Richard Walker is very far from home, he can not communicate because he does not know how to speak the language, and his wife is missing. This is a scenario built to make one feel disoriented. Firstly he is in a foreign country he does not know the area so this present the obstacle of not knowing where to begin which is overwhelming in itself. This also adds on to his mounting anxiety about his wife who he has lost and is on a mission to find. She was his lifeline she spoke French and knew the agenda so every time something goes wrong or he doesn’t know how to communicate it is just another reminder that his wife is gone and he is alone. He realizes that he has been thrown into a world where no one cares about his privilege and no one is going to give him any special treatment. He is in Paris and he knows no French, this adds on to his sense of isolation and helplessness. This also shows you how his feelings of entitlement is very important in his feeling of disorientation as well. He goes into another country not knowing the native tongue but expecting people to understand him. He quickly learns though the this will not be the case. All of these elements lead to Dr. Walkers extreme feelings of psychological entrapment. Leaving him anxious, isolated, and alone.

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.