Thoughts on In A Lonely Place (1950)
What is Dixon Steele capable of? His urges and the ambiguous nature of what drives them are at the center of Nicholas Ray's classic 1950 film noir. In A Lonely Place gradually reveals itself as not so much a murder mystery, but a densely layered psychological character study, as concerned with emotion as it is with aesthetics; a quality atypical to most film noirs of the 1950s (and in general). Steele lives in Hollywood; the supposed dream factory filled with promise and hope. But he is also no stranger to the cruelties of war, and perhaps the most stark quality that could be said of his character is disillusionment. His demeanor during his interrogation is almost unreadable; he gives off a mysterious and unnerving level of calmness. Yet, as the opening scene and unsolved murder suggest, Steele’s aforementioned calmness can transform into a fit of rageful violence if anyone so much as looks at him funny.
Then there is Laurel Gray, the woman who likes his face. She is immediately drawn to him in all his charm, tenderness and wit, but is as unsure of him as she is of herself. She knows of his explosive side, and it frightens her to the point where her uncertainty of what he is capable of overwhelms her certainty of their love for each other. Dixon may be too deeply damaged to truly recognize who she is and what she needs, and Ray cleverly expresses this idea through visual metaphor and dialogue, i.e Laurel’s view of Dixon’s home, and, to quote Mr. Steele: "You know, Miss Gray, you're one up on me. You can see into my apartment but I can't see into yours.” Laurel knows him all too well while Dix, despite his love for her, may be too perpetually alienated to take care of her, or anyone.
In A Lonely Place is as self-reflexive a film as they come. Like Steele, Ray himself was known to have a conflicted love/hate relationship with the Hollywood lifestyle (he was also married to Gloria Grahame at the time), and also like Steele, Bogart himself was cool, calm and collected on the surface, but essentially secretive and perhaps haunted. This meta quality sheds even greater light on the film’s true fascinations: self-loathing/destruction; how those who cannot control themselves feel the need to control and dominate others; the deceptively promising but ultimately alienating nature of Hollywood and celebrity life, etc. Yet beyond that, the film may truly be, at its core, a deeply tragic love story of a man who knows who to love but does not know how, and a woman who knows how but knows who all too well. Their love for each other is their strength and eventually fatal weakness. To quote the film once more, this one coming from both Mr. Steele and Ms. Gray, “I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.”
Then there is Laurel Gray, the woman who likes his face. She is immediately drawn to him in all his charm, tenderness and wit, but is as unsure of him as she is of herself. She knows of his explosive side, and it frightens her to the point where her uncertainty of what he is capable of overwhelms her certainty of their love for each other. Dixon may be too deeply damaged to truly recognize who she is and what she needs, and Ray cleverly expresses this idea through visual metaphor and dialogue, i.e Laurel’s view of Dixon’s home, and, to quote Mr. Steele: "You know, Miss Gray, you're one up on me. You can see into my apartment but I can't see into yours.” Laurel knows him all too well while Dix, despite his love for her, may be too perpetually alienated to take care of her, or anyone.
In A Lonely Place is as self-reflexive a film as they come. Like Steele, Ray himself was known to have a conflicted love/hate relationship with the Hollywood lifestyle (he was also married to Gloria Grahame at the time), and also like Steele, Bogart himself was cool, calm and collected on the surface, but essentially secretive and perhaps haunted. This meta quality sheds even greater light on the film’s true fascinations: self-loathing/destruction; how those who cannot control themselves feel the need to control and dominate others; the deceptively promising but ultimately alienating nature of Hollywood and celebrity life, etc. Yet beyond that, the film may truly be, at its core, a deeply tragic love story of a man who knows who to love but does not know how, and a woman who knows how but knows who all too well. Their love for each other is their strength and eventually fatal weakness. To quote the film once more, this one coming from both Mr. Steele and Ms. Gray, “I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.”