Years ago, the estate of Margaret Mitchell hired the late Alexandra Ripley to write a sequel to "Gone with the Wind." To prepare for her attempt to imitate Mitchell's prose, one of the things Ripley did was to write out 100 pages of the original novel, in longhand, to try to submerge herself fully into Mitchell's writing style.
That story came back to me as I thought back on "The White Orchid," an elegant neo-noir/thriller about a young woman, Claire Decker (Olivia Thirlby), an investigator who contracts with the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services. She is usually hired to look for heirs of people who died without a will or left no clue to next of kin. Claire is good at what she does, and her supervisor (Jennifer Beals) offers her a big case: to find information about a dead woman has become known as "the White Orchid" because of her predilection to dress only in white and her fondness for that particular flower. Her murder became a local sensation because her body was found missing hands and head, making physical identification impossible.
Claire takes the case reluctantly, but soon finds herself drawn into clues left behind at the dead woman's house. And she begins to find herself drawn not only into the mystery of the woman's identity, but also her distinctive manner of dress and disguises, finds evidence that the woman was more than just a random crime victim. As she does so, Claire starts making her investigation more personal than she should, while also starting to lose herself a bit in the mystery woman's persona.
The story is rather clearly based on one of the most notorious criminal cases in history - the still-unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, whose horribly mutilated body was found in a Los Angeles front yard in 1947. The press dubbed her "the Black Dahlia," either in association with the then-popular film, "The Blue Dahlia" (itself a Raymond Chandler noir mystery), or because she allegedly had a fondness for an all-black wardrobe, including her underwear.
"The White Orchid" has a definite sense of place. It's not only set in San Luis Obispo County, but in Morro Bay, a small town away from the freeways and located on the curving coastal highway. It's most noteworthy feature is an ancient volcanic mound, Morro Rock, that dominates the town's small harbor. It's remote from both Los Angeles and San Francisco - yet because of the Short case and some scenes that take place in the latter, the film is linked, at least indirectly, to both.
And as in many films, one of the pleasures here is not just the scenic backdrop or vicariously following the clues, and but also the great cast. Beside Thirlby, who brings a striking look to the part of Claire, we have Beals (who, sadly, isn't given enough to do), John Carroll Lynch as the county sheriff, and even a couple of scenes that feature Nichelle Nichols as a blind woman who may have information about the dead woman's identity. Some reports claimed that Nichols (famed for her role in the original "Star Trek") has been suffering from dementia - but despite being in her mid-80s, shows no sign of debility here. And Lynch, who memorably played a prime suspect in "Zodiac" (2007), provides another of his long resume of character performances.
Because Elizabeth Short's death has been dramatized in both movies and television, writer-director Steve Anderson here makes everything the exact opposite: so we have "the White Orchid" instead of "the Black Dahlia," with most of the details also set up to mirror that case. Some viewers seem to be bothered that the film may leave some questions even at the end; it certainly seems to scream for a sequel. But this is one of those films in which the solution isn't nearly as important as the journey - in following Claire's immersion into the dead woman's world, and what she finds there.
That story came back to me as I thought back on "The White Orchid," an elegant neo-noir/thriller about a young woman, Claire Decker (Olivia Thirlby), an investigator who contracts with the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services. She is usually hired to look for heirs of people who died without a will or left no clue to next of kin. Claire is good at what she does, and her supervisor (Jennifer Beals) offers her a big case: to find information about a dead woman has become known as "the White Orchid" because of her predilection to dress only in white and her fondness for that particular flower. Her murder became a local sensation because her body was found missing hands and head, making physical identification impossible.
Claire takes the case reluctantly, but soon finds herself drawn into clues left behind at the dead woman's house. And she begins to find herself drawn not only into the mystery of the woman's identity, but also her distinctive manner of dress and disguises, finds evidence that the woman was more than just a random crime victim. As she does so, Claire starts making her investigation more personal than she should, while also starting to lose herself a bit in the mystery woman's persona.
The story is rather clearly based on one of the most notorious criminal cases in history - the still-unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, whose horribly mutilated body was found in a Los Angeles front yard in 1947. The press dubbed her "the Black Dahlia," either in association with the then-popular film, "The Blue Dahlia" (itself a Raymond Chandler noir mystery), or because she allegedly had a fondness for an all-black wardrobe, including her underwear.
"The White Orchid" has a definite sense of place. It's not only set in San Luis Obispo County, but in Morro Bay, a small town away from the freeways and located on the curving coastal highway. It's most noteworthy feature is an ancient volcanic mound, Morro Rock, that dominates the town's small harbor. It's remote from both Los Angeles and San Francisco - yet because of the Short case and some scenes that take place in the latter, the film is linked, at least indirectly, to both.
And as in many films, one of the pleasures here is not just the scenic backdrop or vicariously following the clues, and but also the great cast. Beside Thirlby, who brings a striking look to the part of Claire, we have Beals (who, sadly, isn't given enough to do), John Carroll Lynch as the county sheriff, and even a couple of scenes that feature Nichelle Nichols as a blind woman who may have information about the dead woman's identity. Some reports claimed that Nichols (famed for her role in the original "Star Trek") has been suffering from dementia - but despite being in her mid-80s, shows no sign of debility here. And Lynch, who memorably played a prime suspect in "Zodiac" (2007), provides another of his long resume of character performances.
Because Elizabeth Short's death has been dramatized in both movies and television, writer-director Steve Anderson here makes everything the exact opposite: so we have "the White Orchid" instead of "the Black Dahlia," with most of the details also set up to mirror that case. Some viewers seem to be bothered that the film may leave some questions even at the end; it certainly seems to scream for a sequel. But this is one of those films in which the solution isn't nearly as important as the journey - in following Claire's immersion into the dead woman's world, and what she finds there.