Virgin Mary, Is That You?

  

   Looking at the stills from Double Indemnity and L.A. Confidential, there was a clear parallel between these two images of the main female characters in the movies (3 and 9). Both females have very light blond, curly, soft-looking hair and beautiful, angelic faces with high-arching cheekbones. Both images have a sexy quality to them, but the females still look innocent: Lynn, with her white as pure hood and wide eyes, and Phyllis, with a glow of light surrounding her hair and bare shoulders. Both women also have their lips slightly parted, a very innocent, child-like image. What's interesting about how pure and innocent they both seem in these images is that these are the first images of both characters in their respective movies, so it is the first impression of them that we get as an audience member, and that the main male characters gets of them. What Walter doesn't know about Phyllis in this moment is that she is actually a manipulative, murderous woman. And what Bud doesn't know about Lynn is that she is a prostitute, and will continue to work as one even as they're "dating." Both women are perceived in these images as "Virgin Mary's," when we all know Virgin Mary wasn't really a virgin at all- just as these women are deceptive in their posing as innocent angels. The main difference between these two shots is that the one of Lynn is a close-up shot, showing only her face and a little bit of the background, and the image of Phyllis is a high-angle medium shot, looking up at her from Walter's POV, and showing part of her towel-covered body.