noir

Noir, from the French word for "black" or "dark," is a term used to describe a set of crime-related stories and their mood, aesthetics, and themes. In cinema, film noir refers to American crime dramas of the 1940s and 1950s characterized by stylistic darkness and moral ambiguity. The term has also been applied to noir fiction, comics, and later films that imitate or revise the style, sometimes called neo-noir.

Visual style: low-key lighting, stark shadows, urban nightscapes; camera angles that create claustrophobic or unsettling atmospheres. Narrative and character: cynical, morally compromised protagonists; plots involving murder, corruption, and femme fatales; voice-over narration; non-linear timelines; fatalistic endings.

Origins and influences: German Expressionism's lighting and shadows, the hardboiled detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and the constraints of the studio era that encouraged tense dialogue and tightly plotted crime stories. After World War II, disillusionment fed noir's themes, including the fragility of identity and the corrupting lure of wealth or power.

Notable examples: The Maltese Falcon (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), Out of the Past (1947), Sunset Boulevard (1950). Legacy: noir has shaped genres in film, television, and literature, and its motifs continue in contemporary thrillers and neo-noir works.