The Big Sleep
I have absolutely no idea why I have been watching this film. Perhaps it’s the film-noir-ness. I must have gotten this title from somewhere and I guess the combination of Lauren Bacall of Humphrey Bogart in a Howard Hawks film was just too tempting. I love Howard Hawks’ films and I have actually never seen anything with Lauren Bacall before!
Every single Film noir in this world relies upon its main actress, and what I find most fascinating about them is the fact that these main actresses are never ever traditionally beautiful. It’s not like there is any imperfection with them – in fact, almost all of them have impeccable faces and figures, but more that you just would never say they have a face like Kate Moss. But while Kate Moss looks like intelligence has never touched her, these Film noir actresses are this amazing combination of sex appeal and intelligence that attracts me even as a woman. There is the more natural Rosalind Russell or Shirley MacLaine type, and then there is the glamorous Film noir type… and while we are dealing with a relatively tame example, Lauren Bacall pulled off the mysterious, sort of dangerous yet irresistible woman wonderfully.
Apart from her presence and the odd chemistry between her and Bogart (the real world couple feeling didn’t reach me at all?) the film’s storyline was nothing all that special. I didn’t find the story as confusing as most critics seem to, and thought that directing and cinematography were spectacular, as expected from Hawks. In the end, I didn’t really mind that it was never revealed who killed that poor chauffeur, and what happened to the the main characters was strangely all I cared about.
The best thing about the film is its dialogue – witty, poignant and very, very dark. For some reason, I enjoyed the way everybody treats each other with a cold, smart-ass attitude, leading to almost screwball-comedy-like lines. Maybe William Faulkner actually was good at writing a screenplay after all? I don’t know, but somehow I liked the result.
PS. My favorite genre of all times are screwball comedies. Other favorite genres of note are the Nouvelle Vague, Weimarer Republik/German expressionism and animationed films. But I don’t know if I should include film noirs into my favorite genres, although I am highly intrigued by them, similar to western.