How is Double Indemnity told to the audience?

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Billy Wilder poses in a suit and hat, leaning against a streetlamp with a sign reading Sunset Blvd. in a promotional photo for the film Sunset Boulevard. — Billy Wilder Billy Wilder in a promotional photograph for *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), which he directed.

In Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity, the story is told through the use of a subjective, world-weary narrator and a flashback structure.

Rather than functioning as a traditional mystery, the film reveals the protagonist's downfall in the opening scenes. The narrative then unfolds through flashbacks that detail the circumstances leading to that tragic conclusion. This technique, characteristic of film noir, heightens tension and suspense by ensuring the audience is constantly aware of the character's impending doom.1