Contemporary film noir is often referred to as Neo-noir, since at least the historic reasons for the existence of noir (disenchantment with the establishment, post-war malaise, reaction against the “norm” of postwar America) seem no longer relevant. So to try and make a neo-noir film today, and to up the ante by using mannequins instead of live actors, seems like either a crazy and innovative political and filmic statement, or an excuse for a crazy joke. Director Daniel Erickson’s second feature film falls somewhere in the middle.
Eve and William seem to have a good life. Their young marriage is stable, Eve has recently become pregnant, and while they’re not rich, they have enough money to get by. That is, until Ramon shows up. Ramon knew Eve long before William did, and employed her in a less than desirable trade. Apparently Eve ran out before her contract was up, and Ramon has come to collect.
When Todd Haynes used Barbie dolls to force the viewer to understand the stigma and pain of anorexia and the pressure of fame in Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, the affect was quite disturbing. Perhaps I went into Eve’s Necklace with the same kind of expectation. And to a certain extent, the use of mannequins works. William is a generically handsome man, nothing special except to Eve. Eve is beautiful and, as a former porn star, her status as an object is emphasized through the use of the doll. Ramon’s metaphoric facelessness as a doll adds emphasis to his status as a person who exploits the object, never seen by the public and yet benefitting from the object.
