Gledhill marks Klute as an interesting film as it combines the two very different genres of realism and noir, which typically showcase very different characteristics in their characters, especially female characters.  Film noir usually exaggerates female characters so that they are either the killer femme fatale or the domestic housewife, while humanist, realist films attempt to show women as real people with real problems.

• Gledhill also suggests that there are two ways to read Klute for meaning.  The first is the humanist literary method in which the film and every detail of it can be read for metaphorical meaning.  The second way of reading this film is through Marxist aesthetics.  This theory essentially states that you cannot decipher the absolute meaning of the film, but you can analyze how the meaning is produced.  It also states that this film is a product of all feminist film to come before it and it’s meaning is a result of history that has come before it.

The author identifies five main features of noir film and how they generally tarnish the appearance of the female character.

1) Investigative Narrative

• the hero is usually trying to figure something about a woman
• the woman is either the femme fatale or the domestic house wife
• if she is a working woman it is usually in a degrading job
• she can never both a family and a career, only one

2) Flashback/ Voice Over

• It is usually a man telling the story and dictating which details are shared about the woman.

3) Point of View

• The story is usually told from the man’s perspective and results in a fragmented incomplete portrayal of the female characters

4) Characterization of the Heroine

• The female character always seems to be switching between moral and immoral unlike the straightforward moral trajectory of the man

5) Visual Style

• The way the film is shot emphasizes the sexuality of the woman as it relates to men.
• Her body is usually shown in fragments.

In conclusion, the noir film and realist film (which are shown through the fact that Bree is a working girl, seeking psychotherapy, and taking control of her life) should not be able to coexist in the same film.  How do you think they hold up together?