The noir genre is present within the cinematic DNA of nearly every film by Joel and Ethan Coen, including their brilliant debut feature Blood Simple, the somber hardboiled mystery of Fargo, and even the The Big Lebowski‘s wacky sleuthing. Although it was evident that the Coens had deep admiration for the noir films of the 1940s, their 2001 film The Man Who Wasn’t There was a full-on throwback period piece, shot in black-and-white, that was heavily inspired by the thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, most notably Shadow of a Doubt and Rope. It’s a film that contains the idiosyncrasies that are expected of the Coens, but also features one of their most transfixing and compelling protagonists ever in Ed Crane, a mild-mannered barber portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton. Thornton draws out the ambiguity within a character who is both completely vulnerable and entirely unreadable, and it’s the different interpretations that can be spun out of The Man Who Wasn’t There that makes it one of the most underrated entries in the Coens’ entire body-of-work.
The Man Who Wasn’t There is set in 1949, where Ed works as a loyal employee at a business owned by his brother-in-law Frank (Michael Badalucco). Although Ed is a pragmatic investor, he is forced to come up with $10,000 to stake in dry cleaning technology that is proposed to him by his regular customer, Creighton Tolliver (Jon Polito). The Man Who Wasn’t There examines the ease with which an unassuming character can be drawn into conspiracy and murder when Ed, suspecting that his wife Doris (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with her boss, “Big Dave” (James Gandolfini), decides to blackmail him. It’s a murky, darkly comedic portrayal of the fractured state of the American psyche in the aftermath of World War II, and draws from both Hitchcock and other ‘40s classics to create a stirring thriller about the price of ambition.
‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ Is the Coen Brothers’ Homage to Classic Noir
A core tenant of many Hitchcock films is the notion of an “ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances,” and The Man Who Wasn’t There both adheres to and subverts these archetypes. It’s safe to assume that Ed served in the war and is dealing with some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder, but he is also clearly unprepared for a life of crime based on his clumsy self-defense against Dave. It’s similarly unclear if Ed’s drinking problem was the cause of his marital issues with Doris or if he developed his addiction as a result of it, and the loveless nature of their relationship makes his actions all the more fascinating. Ed is detached from reality in a way that is comparable to Meursault in Albert Camus‘s The Stranger, as he seems unaffected by violence and not particularly jealous as a result of Doris’ affair. Ed’s blackmailing of Dave is more of a strategic move than an act of vengeance, and so to see him suffer as a result of his bad call is all the more darkly ironic.
There’s no shortage of filmmakers who love Hitchcock, but the Coen brothers delivered an authentic throwback to 1949 thanks to their longstanding collaboration with the cinematographer Roger Deakins, who used shorter lenses and high contrast lighting to create the same sort of shadows that would appear in a classic noir. Setting the film at the tail end of the ‘40s, before the Cold War had sparked up, allowed the Coens to deal with a knotty period in American history when businesses were ramping up and ambitious investors were desperate to take advantage of new entrepreneurship opportunities, which may explain why Ed is so enthusiastic about the chance of escaping from the malaise of his empty life. This is where the title comes into play, because The Man Who Wasn’t There refers to more than just the unseen assailant in the crime who the police are seeking; it’s a reference to Ed himself, who has become so self-destructive that he’s nearly invisible to anyone around him.
‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ Has One of Billy Bob Thornton’s Greatest Performances
The Man Who Wasn’t There features one of the Coens’ most underrated casts; Gandolfini in particular is excellent in a subversive role that asks him to be surprisingly vulnerable, despite still being an imposing physical presence. Although the film features an early performance from Scarlett Johansson which led to several other collaborations with the Coens, Thornton is downright brilliant as a tricky character who invites sympathy, despite the fact that his behavior is frequently destructive. Ed is in an sympathetic situation because he has been denied assistance for his alcoholism and cannot be blamed for his employment issues, and at first, his lack of passion would make him seem almost mild-mannered. It’s this transparency within his characterization that allows Thornton to truly shine, as it suggests that even those who have been emotionally deprived are capable of falling victim to human nature.
The Man Who Wasn’t There contains a number of fun Easter Eggs for cinephiles, but it is also a deeply strange film with one of the Coens’ most puzzling endings, which calls into question how much of the story should be taken seriously. In classic Hitchcock fashion, it’s a film that deals with suspenseful material while still being enormously entertaining. Although it didn’t get the attention that it deserved 25 years ago when it first debuted, The Man Who Wasn’t There is one of both the Coens’ and Thornton’s best films, as well as one that would make Hitchcock proud.
