Prior to our screening of Jean-Pierre Melville’s film noir classic Le Samouraï (1967), Assistant Professor of Philosophy Sean T. Murphy will give a short presentation introducing some of the important artistic elements and aesthetic values of the genre. He will discuss how certain formal elements of film noir, like its use of minimalist visuals and sparse, opaque dialogue work hand-in-hand with its narrative content to create a sense of uncertainty about characters’ motivations and the direction of the plot. Using Melville’s Le Samouraï as an example, he will also touch on some of film noir’s favorite moral themes, especially its complex treatment of the value (and disvalue) of empathy, integrity, and masculinity.