In the fun and somewhat saucy season 2 first episode of BBC’s Sherlock - “A Scandal in Belgravia” - there is one very dark scene that I love because it is classic film noir.
(See below for the script.) While the exact definition and boundaries of the genre are well debated, Film Noir has some clear traits that even I can identify in this Sherlock scene which is so beautifully filmed and acted.
Firstly - noir, which is French for “black”, refers to both the lack of colour and the mood, with many of the film noir classics dating to the black and white cinema tradition. An underlying theme of film noir is alienation - bleakness, despair, and cynicism. It is often associated, especially in the 1940s, with detective movies, such as The Maltese Falcon, that have hard-boiled detective heroes who have frequently, if not fatally, become entangled with a femme fatale. Along with the seedier side of the life of the “private dick” are the underbelly characters, the drugs, prostitution, crime and of course plenty of cigarettes (often as a symbolic substitute for sex in a highly censored Hollywood film industry).
So how amazing is it that Steven Moffat and Paul McGuigan worked all of that seamlessly into one short scene in Sherlock? Of course, what better location for a Film Noir scene than at a morgue. Even the effervescent Molly is subdued by the realisation that there might be “another woman” in Sherlock’s life. That the “femme” in this case has proven her own fatality is an integral part of the greater arc of the episode - as is the ambivalence of our leading man’s feelings for her - the cigarette is, after all, low-tar!
Our bleak scene is set with a dark, stormy night as snow falls on the Hospital - looking both sinister and grimly picturesque. The colour palate is decidedly black and grey. Even the splash of colour in the morgue’s examination room is used to hide and obscure our characters (and perhaps their motives too) as the camera pans around columns. The use of low camera angles, long empty corridors and high contrast lighting create the distinct film noir visual effect needed.
In what turns out to be our only intimate scene in two seasons between brothers Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes, we are often given a point of view of the outsider and voyeur looking in - through the window, or through the door. In the DVD commentary, Mark Gattis (co-creator, writer, and the actor that plays Mycroft) notes that without an audience to impress, this is a wonderful insight into the non-competitive - possibly as “normal” as we’ll ever see - side of the Holmes family.
That these characters stand apart from the norm is echoed in Sherlock’s question “Do you ever wonder if there’s something wrong with us?” Both highly intelligent and manipulative men, we discover that even the little bit of comfort Mycroft offers Sherlock in this scene - a Christmas cigarette - is in itself a pre-conceived test (of which John Watson is aware) of the depths of despair Sherlock’s friends anticipate he might sink to (and a subtly managed reference to Sherlock’s past drug problems).
But this is not art for art’s sake. The dialogue for the scene reflects the same alienation as the photography - especially with our Holmes boys’ backs to the camera as Mycroft states “Caring is not an advantage”. This introduces a key theme of the season, and a vital clue to Sherlock’s solution to the Irene Adler case.
Adding to the bleakness are lines like “All lives end, all hearts are broken” - which is delivered in all its cynicism from the end of a tunnel-like corridor. Life is full of pain, but as Sherlock learns in the next two episodes, while keeping your emotional distance may be a logical advantage, it is not necessarily the best or the most human solution.
Yes, I could continue to wax lyrical about the perfect marriage of form and content in this scene - but I think the point is made. Paul McGuigan’s direction and Fabian Wagner’s photography deserve the highest praise in delivering such a delectably black scene with such haunting beauty. And that Steven Moffat delivers humour amid the bleakness provides some light relief in a morbid (literally) moment.
Our characters might conclude the scene with platitudes of the season - but there is nothing merry or happy about this scene - and it provides a good catalyst for the story moving forward, as it is easy to grieve with/for Sherlock into the subsequent scenes. This is cinematic perfection!
*** SPOILER ALERT***
A Scandal in Belgravia
Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Paul McGuigan.
Director of Photography: Fabian Wagner
Shot of Exterior of St Bart’s Hospital at night. It is snowing. Sherlock and Mycroft walk down a bleak corridor and enter the Morgue where Molly waits with a body lying under a sheet.
MH: ... the only one who fitted the description. Had her brought here, your home from home.
SH: You didn’t need to come in, Molly.
Molly: That’s OK, everyone else was busy with... Christmas. Uh, the face is a bit sort of bashed up, so... it might be a bit difficult. (Lowers sheet from body’s face.)
MH: That’s her isn’t it?
SH: Show me the rest of her. (Molly lowers the sheet from the body. Sherlock gazes up and down body.) That’s her. (Exits Morgue.)
MH: Thank you, Miss Hooper.
Molly: Who is she? How did Sherlock recognise her from... not her face?
SH: (Smiles. Exits Morgue after Sherlock.)
Corridor outside Morgue.
MH: (Holds up a cigarette.) Just the one.
SH: Why?
MH: Merry Christmas!
SH: Smoking indoors, isn’t there one of those... one of those law things?
MH:We’re in a morgue. There’s only so much damage you can do. How did you know she was dead?
SH: She had an item in her possession. One she said her life depended on. She chose to give it up.
MH: Where is this item now? (Sounds of distant wailing.)
SH: (Notices grieving family beyond doors at end of corridor.) Look at them, they all care so much. Do you ever wonder if there’s something wrong with us?
MH: All lives end. All hearts are broken. Caring is not an advantage... Sherlock.
SH: (Exhales cigarette smoke and pulls a face.) This is low tar.
MH: Well, you barely knew her.
SH: Huh. (Walks away smoking.) Merry Christmas, Mycroft.
MH: And a Happy New Year.
(Sherlock exits. Mycroft dials on mobile.)
MH: He’s on his way. Have you found anything?
John: No. Did he take the cigarette?
MH: Yes.
John: Shit! (Turns to Mrs Hudson.) He’s coming, ten minutes.
Mrs H: There’s nothing in the bedroom.
John: Well, it looks like he’s clean. We’ve tried all the usual places. Are you sure tonight’s a danger night?
MH: No, but then I never am. You have to stay with him, John.
John: I’ve got plans.
MH: No. (Hangs up.)
John: Mycroft? M..?
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