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Critics generally agree that the retrospectively labelled film noir movement began with John Huston's The Maltese Falcon in 1941 and continued through the 1950s, the 'classic' noir period ending with Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958).1 Thematic and stylistic elements of classic film noir include an urban setting shot largely at night (often referred to as the 'dark city') using low-key, high-contrast lighting to create atmospheric shadows; character types including a (usually male) detective/investigator entangled or sexually obsessed with a femme fatale; the use of tilted frames and close/restricted composition; such narrative devices as voiceover and flashback; an atmosphere of paranoia and suspense; and moral ambiguity and fatalism.2 The themes and techniques of classic noir have continued to be a part of the modern thriller, employed by filmmakers from the 1960s to the present day to evolve into a subgenre that has come to be known as neo-noir. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) merges stylistic and narrative elements of film noir with science fiction themes, and has been referred to as a futuristic film noir.3 James Ursini goes so far as to say that Blade Runner marks the beginning of the neo-noir period in science fiction, and that the film has left an 'indelible mark' on the genre.4 This reading will refer to the 1991 director's cut of the film,5 which excises the noir element of the voiceover but retains many other relevant features, including a complex presentation of noir's female archetypes.
The beautiful, dangerous and duplicitous femme fatale is an identifiable feature of many noir films, with her sexual deception performing a specific narrative function.6 The femme fatale is also a recognisable character type in the modern cinematic thriller and is of course present in neo-noir films. Feminist critic Mary Ann Doane traces the origins of the femme fatale to the late nineteeth century, when industrialisation and a closer understanding of sexual differences between men and women manifested in an overrepresentation of the female body and a loss of access to it by males. The femme fatale is mysterious, sexy and unknowable, and is offered a
hospitable home [in modern cinema.] She persistently appears in a number of reincarnations: the vamp [...] of silent cinemas, the diva of the Italian film, the femme...