Film Noir as Point de Capiton: Double indemnity, structure and temporality

Article

Tyrer, B. 2013. Film Noir as Point de Capiton: Double indemnity, structure and temporality. Film-Philosophy. 17 (1), pp. 96-114. https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2013.0006
TypeArticle
TitleFilm Noir as Point de Capiton: Double indemnity, structure and temporality
AuthorsTyrer, B.
Abstract

Reading noir and Lacan together can establish a structural corollary between the function of the signifier “noir” in film criticism and the retroactive function of the point de capiton in Lacan’s theory of language. Furthermore, at a narrative level, the function of the point de capiton can also be found in the retroactive constructions of film noir flashbacks. It is therefore possible to say that a retroactive “noir temporality” is also the temporality of the Symbolic order. This article explores the way in which the signifier “noir” enables the analysis of a certain type of 1940s Hollywood film, and how a noir film such as Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) is concerned with the retroactive production of knowledge through narrative structure.

Middlesex University ThemeCreativity, Culture & Enterprise
PublisherEdinburgh University Press
JournalFilm-Philosophy
ISSN
Electronic1466-4615
Publication dates
OnlineDec 2013
Publication process dates
Deposited12 Jun 2023
Accepted01 Jun 2013
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
File Access Level
Open
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2013.0006
LanguageEnglish
Permalink -

https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/8q5yq

Log in to edit

Restricted files

Publisher's version

  • 70
    total views
  • 1
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

(Don't) look back: three Portraits of a Lady on Fire
Tyrer, B. 2025. (Don't) look back: three Portraits of a Lady on Fire. Film-Philosophy.
Barbenheimer: mass appeal cinema and the evolution of the blockbuster
Mitchell, A., Backman Rogers, A., Harrington, E., Krämer, P., Radner, R., Sellier, G., Lake, K., Tyrer, B. and Bolton, L. 2024. Barbenheimer: mass appeal cinema and the evolution of the blockbuster. Australasian Journal of American Studies. 43 (1), pp. 119-150.
Introduction: Catherine Malabou, plasticity and film
Dalton, B. and Tyrer, B. 2024. Introduction: Catherine Malabou, plasticity and film. Film-Philosophy. 28 (3), pp. 413-427. https://doi.org/10.3366/film.2024.0278
That obscure object of ontology: Lacan, La femme, lathouse and Her
Tyrer, B. 2023. That obscure object of ontology: Lacan, La femme, lathouse and Her. in: Bartelmus, M. and Danebrock, F. (ed.) Therapie der Dinge? Materialität und Psychoanalyse in Literatur, Film und bildender Kunst Transcript Verlag. pp. 235-247
The shudder-image: psyche-soma, sex and knowledge in Hannibal
Tyrer, B. 2022. The shudder-image: psyche-soma, sex and knowledge in Hannibal. Screen. 63 (4), pp. 464-494. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjac039
Do Filminds Dream of Celluloid Sheep? Lacan, Filmosophy and Blade Runner 2049
Tyrer, B. 2021. Do Filminds Dream of Celluloid Sheep? Lacan, Filmosophy and Blade Runner 2049. in: Lacanian Perspectives on Blade Runner 2049 Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 13-39
‘Becoming Hannibal’: Identification and transformation in queer horror television
Tyrer, B. 2020. ‘Becoming Hannibal’: Identification and transformation in queer horror television. in: Elliott-Smith, D. and Browning, J.E. (ed.) New Queer Horror Film and Television University of Wales Press.
Under Her Skin: on woman without body and body without Woman
Tyrer, B. 2019. Under Her Skin: on woman without body and body without Woman. in: Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. (ed.) Femininity and Psychoanalysis: Cinema, Culture, Theory Routledge. pp. 138-159
Introduction
Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. 2019. Introduction. in: Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. (ed.) Femininity and Psychoanalysis: Cinema, Culture, Theory Routledge. pp. 1-7
The reality of fantasy: VFX as fantasmatic supplement in game of thrones (2011-)
Tyrer, B. 2018. The reality of fantasy: VFX as fantasmatic supplement in game of thrones (2011-). in: Holliday, C. and Sergeant, A. (ed.) Fantasy/Animation: Connections Between Media, Mediums and Genres Routledge. pp. 91-106
This tongue is not my own: Dogtooth, phobia and the paternal metaphor
Tyrer, B. 2017. This tongue is not my own: Dogtooth, phobia and the paternal metaphor. in: Kazakopoulou, T. and Fotiou, M. (ed.) Contemporary Greek Film Cultures from 1990 to the Present Peter Lang. pp. 101-129
First interlude: a contingent irruption
Tyrer, B. 2016. First interlude: a contingent irruption. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 79-90
Film noir doesn’t exist: impossibility, definition and the point of failure
Tyrer, B. 2016. Film noir doesn’t exist: impossibility, definition and the point of failure. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 91-140
Introduction: into the past/out of the past
Tyrer, B. 2016. Introduction: into the past/out of the past. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-28
The boundaries and meaning of noir: suture, metaphor and the historical imaginary
Tyrer, B. 2016. The boundaries and meaning of noir: suture, metaphor and the historical imaginary. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 143-193
Second interlude: a knotting (SRI)
Tyrer, B. 2016. Second interlude: a knotting (SRI). in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 197-208
The moment of concluding
Tyrer, B. 2016. The moment of concluding. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 253-267
The idea of noir: fiction, signifier, genre
Tyrer, B. 2016. The idea of noir: fiction, signifier, genre. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 209-251
Film noir as point de capiton: retroactive temporality and symbolic structure
Tyrer, B. 2016. Film noir as point de capiton: retroactive temporality and symbolic structure. in: Out of the past: Lacan and film noir Cham Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 31-76
Trauma without a subject: On Malabou, psychoanalysis and Amour
Tyrer, B. 2016. Trauma without a subject: On Malabou, psychoanalysis and Amour. in: Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. (ed.) Psychoanalysis and the Unrepresentable: From Culture to the Clinic Routledge. pp. 20-38
Out of the past: Lacan and film noir
Tyrer, B. 2016. Out of the past: Lacan and film noir. Cham Palgrave Macmillan.
Introduction: Representing the unrepresentable
Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. 2016. Introduction: Representing the unrepresentable. in: Piotrowska, A. and Tyrer, B. (ed.) Psychoanalysis and the Unrepresentable: From Culture to the Clinic Routledge. pp. 1-4
Mark Osteen, Nightmare Alley: Film Noir and the American Dream (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, $34.95). Pp. 336. ISBN 978 1 4214 0780 7 [Book review]
Tyrer, B. 2015. Mark Osteen, Nightmare Alley: Film Noir and the American Dream (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012, $34.95). Pp. 336. ISBN 978 1 4214 0780 7 [Book review]. Journal of American Studies. 49 (4), pp. 934-935. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021875815001528
An atheist's guide to feminine jouissance: On Black Swan and the other satisfaction
Tyrer, B. 2014. An atheist's guide to feminine jouissance: On Black Swan and the other satisfaction. in: Piotrowska, A. (ed.) Embodied Encounters: New Approaches to Cinema and Psychoanalysis Routledge. pp. 131-146
Film Noir doesn't exist: A Lacanian topology
Tyrer, B. 2013. Film Noir doesn't exist: A Lacanian topology. in: Henderson, D. (ed.) Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 127-143
Digression and return: Aesthetics and politics in Agnès Varda’s Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000)
Tyrer, B. 2009. Digression and return: Aesthetics and politics in Agnès Varda’s Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse (2000). Studies in French Cinema. 9 (2), pp. 161-176. https://doi.org/10.1386/sfc.9.2.161_1