What do you make of the stripes that show continually? Stripes on the couch, the blinds on the windows, bars on the gate ... all casting striped shadows over everything. Surely no accident. Maybe the character has become a prisoner in her own home? Or am I trying to read in symbolism that doesn't exist? Has this ever been discussed in a book on film classics?
shareThe use of stripes and shadows is common in film noir, of which The Letter is a good example
shareThey seem to imply moral hypocracy and moral ambiguity: Leslie's hypocracy, her pretense at moral righteousness and the lawyer's ambiguity, morally opposed to what she's done, but helping her anyway since he's drawn to her. For more on his moral ambiguity, read my response to the thread called "Great Soap Opera" in which I quote from a book on film noir.
"That was a good movie. You should have been in that movie."
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