A Girl like Phyl | Highsmith’s use of noir themes
In the following review, Innes comments on Highsmith’s use of noir themes, which explore humanity’s desires and disappointments.
A sculptor is sick of his wife’s being the perfect wife and mother. She’s given up her art for him. She cooks. She takes care of their baby. She’s happy. Despite his urging, she won’t even have an affair. So he kills her. For being too nice. And then he kills himself. By bashing his head against his jail cell wall.
This melodramatic reversal of the usual man-threatened-by-wife’s-career theme is as contrived as it sounds. And yet, somewhere in the midst of the contrivance, one gets a little chill. One starts to think about love and all its delusions, about marriage and...
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