Few themes recur more frequently in noir than infidelity. Affairs begin as escapes from unhappy lives but quickly become catalysts for deception, blackmail, murder, and betrayal. Lovers imagine that passion will free them from ordinary existence, only to discover that every secret demands another. Noir treats adultery less as a moral lesson than as the first step in a chain of consequences that no one can fully control. These essays examine films in which forbidden relationships reshape lives with irreversible results.

The Killing (1956)

Niagara (1953)

Double Indemnity (1944) [2]

The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Ivy (1947)

Scarlet Street (1945)

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)

The Blue Dahlia (1946)

Clash by Night (1952)

Quai des Orfèvres (1947)

Double Indemnity (1944) vs. Body Heat (1981)

Repeat Performance (1947)

The Big Clock (1948)