Insomnia

Don’t Lose Your Way

In classic noir films the femme fatale often fills a certain characteristic role. Witty, manipulative and double-sided she encompasses the idea of duplicity. Director Christopher Nolan explores these traits in the film Insomnia and reverses the role to create a homme fatale. Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) plays the role of a homme fatale by being duplicitous, desperate and using his intelligence in a manipulative manner. Dormer’s duplicity is expressed in his clothing, attitude and dialogue. He also uses his intelligence to manipulate in various ways often for personal gain. The third femme fatale trait that Dormer presents is his desperation. As the homme fatale he is not only desperate to keep his name clean but also to create further success for himself.

            In classic noir films the femme fatale exhibits a duplicitous nature, the most obvious way they do this is through their clothing. Dormer does the same thing but in a more subtle manner. He is often seen wearing his black coat and this makes you think he is always wearing the same thing. When he is in his hotel room and the few instances when he does remove his coat you can see that he does change his clothing. This is a direct reference to his duplicitous nature, it’s not obvious, and the changing of his clothes is done subtly which mirrors his duplicity, which is slowly revealed throughout the film. This duplicitous nature is also revealed through dialogue. Ellie Burr (Hilary Swank) says, “A good cop can’t sleep because he’s missing a piece of the puzzle. And a bad cop can’t sleep because his conscience won’t let him.” (Insomnia) Both these statements relate to Dormer, which emphasizes his true nature. He acts the good cop and this is initially why he can’t sleep, but he soon becomes the bad cop unbeknownst to the others. Even though he has become the bad cop and his actions label him a murderer and a liar, the other officers are unaware of this and he allows them to still follow his lead. His attitude also reflects this duplicity, during the conversation that Dormer has with Mrs. Eckhart he informs her that the man who killed Kay Connell (Crystal Lowe) shot her husband. She tells him not to arrest him and he silently agrees to this. If Dormer follows through with this agreement he must kill himself. After this conversation he continues pursuing the case knowing that he won’t shoot himself. Not only does Dormer hide this from Hap Eckhart’s wife, but now his motivation for the case has two sides to it. He now has to bring Kay’s murderer in not only for he crime he committed but to also cover his own tracks. The murderer is the only one who knows that Dormer killed Eckhart (Martin Donovan), everything Dormer does after this point has a hidden reason behind it.

            Manipulation through intelligence is also a femme fatale characteristic that is seen in Dormer. “You want me to take you somewhere?” (Insomnia) when Dormer says this to Tanya Francke (Katherine Isabelle) he knows exactly what she is expecting. Even though Tanya initiates the sexual implications Dormer exploits this and manipulates her into revealing the information he needs. He also uses his intelligence to manipulate the evidence that could go against him in Eckhart’s death. Dormer hides his gun in Walter Finch’s (Robin Williams) house to frame him. He knows that Finch killed Kay but he has no evidence and he plans on planting evidence, similar to the earlier Dobb’s case, in order to get Finch arrested. This manipulation is not for purely moralistic reasons. Dormer does want Finch arrested for the murder of Kay but that’s not the sole reason he has for his actions. Finch has to be put away because he knows who shot Eckhart; “It is easy enough to pin the murder on the escaping killer, except that one person knows for sure who did it: the escaping killer himself.” (Ebert) This manipulation is mainly for Dormer’s own personal gain because of his reluctance to explain the truth. When this doesn’t work he is forced to formulate and accept a new plan of action; “His sin is not in killing his partner (circumstances make it clear that this is an accident), but in covering it up, then making a deal with the enemy to keep the truth buried.” (Berardinelli) He can no longer attempt to manipulate Finch so he turns to “working” with him and manipulating the entire case to make the police force focus their attention on a different suspect.

The other major manipulation that Dormer performs is one that happened in the past. At the start of his career as an investigator Dormer was on a case that did not have enough evidence. In order to get the criminal put in jail he planted evidence, his reasoning for this is that there was no doubt in his mind that this man wasn’t innocent so he had to make sure he was put in jail. Dormer considers his actions morally right even though they were against the law. When Eckhart was still alive the two had a small argument about an investigation from Internal Affairs. This investigation was the sole reason they were given a case in Alaska and also the sole reason that Dormer does not admit to “accidentally” killing Eckhart. This investigation threatens to uncover Dormer’s greatest cover-up.

As the film progresses the Detectives third femme fatale trait becomes more prominent. The most obvious subject of Dormer’s desperation is keeping his own name clean, not only from killing Eckhart but also the Dobb’s case where he planted evidence. “Setting a trap for the killer on a misty beach, Will accidentally shoots Hap. Or is it an accident?” (Travers) Accident or not, Dormer’s desperation over keeping the Dobb’s case buried is obvious both before Eckhart’s death and after. While it may have been a conscious accident, Dormer knew that Eckhart was going to help Internal Affairs with their investigation and this would reveal things that would cost him both his title and his “hero-status”. Morally he did not want the criminals back on the street but he also didn’t want his name tainted with the information that he had lied and falsified evidence. After killing Eckhart he now has to scramble to create a solid facts pointing towards someone else killing his partner. After trying to frame Finch doesn’t work he becomes so desperate that he lets Finch frame a teenage boy, “It might even work with a couple of these local cops, who have known you long enough to figure you’re too dumb ever to kill anyone without leaving a couple of witnesses and a signed confession” (Insomnia) Dormer knows that Randy Stetz (Jonathon Jackson) is innocent but he does nothing to stop his arrest. In a desperate attempt to keep his own actions hidden he allows Finch to frame an innocent boy. The last thing that Dormer holds onto in the film is his adamancy that Ellie not become corrupt. Throughout the film he and Ellie grow closer and he starts to see himself in her. She is the complete opposite of him, she is young and hasn’t been tainted in the way that he has. At the end of the film she is willing to through her innocence away by hiding the truth about Dormer but he won’t allow it. He tells her “Don’t lose your way.” (Insomnia) He sees himself in her and throughout the film he pushes her to find the truth even though he knows it will cause trouble for him. He subconsciously is trying to protect her and keep her morally intact because he couldn’t do that for himself.

            Even though Detective Dormer is a male character he still mirrors the classic noir femme fatale. The characteristics he displays and his personality all show that he is the homme fatale. His duplicity, desperation, and the manipulation he uses are all examples of how he fills the role of the noir femme fatale. The one thing that Dormer is granted in this film is the option to redeem himself; this option is presented to him at the end of the film. This is the one thing that deviates from the femme/homme fatale view of Dormer. It is an inversion of the classic ending for femme fatales in noir films. Dormer is given the chance to do the moral thing and in doing this he redeems himself.

Works Cited

Berardinelli, James. Insomnia. 2002. 28 03 2013 <www.reelviews.net>.

Ebert, Roger. Insomnia. 24 05 2002. 29 03 2013 <www.rogerebert.suntimes.com>.

Insomnia. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Al Pacino, Hilary Swank, Robin Williams. 2002. Warner Bros., 2010. DVD.

Mitchell, Elvis. A Cop Runs But Can't Hide. 24 05 2002. 28 03 2013 <www.nytimes.com>.

Travers, Peter. Insomnia . 08 05 2002. 29 03 2013 <www.rollingstone.com>.