Film Noir

A short play for a man and a woman, Film Noir is set in a director’s office furnished with a desk, a chair, a smaller chair, and a leather couch.  The year is 1939.  The director, Hatch, remains seated behind his desk throughout and the couch is necessary even though it is not used.  Jane, the actress, in response to Hatch’s questions, says that she had a wonderful honeymoon in Cornwall.  Hatch says he no longer has sexual relations with his wife because she is afraid, since he is grotesquely fat, that he will crush her.  Hatch says that Cornwall, the land of demons, would be a “delightful” place to murder his wife, causing her to fall of a cliff.  He says he picked Jane for the role because of her innocence.  He says he has a fantasy about living with Jane in a house in Cornwall, joining in a “deep and genuine sensual communion.”  Jane wants to leave but he orders her to stop.  He tells her that the thought of making love with him disgusts and horrifies her.  Jane erupts in a tirade, berating him for abusing his position, calling him a fat, disgusting pig.  Hatch replies, “Excellent.”  He says he wants her to remember exactly how she felt when she was shrieking at him and to recreate it in the scene they are shooting tomorrow.  Jane says she can recreate what she felt but that what he did was horrible.  He says it worked and that’s what matters in life and art.  She leaves and Hatch bangs his head three times on the desk, calms himself, and says that he must really get a place in Cornwall.