Scripts used to have some "vices". The dialogues were fast, with precise and incisive sentences. At the same time, they allowed the quotation of poetic or dramatic passages. were frequent, helping to characterize characters haunted by what they did or to prove that the present is not quite what it seems to be.

The protagonists tend to have dubious, cynical and even cruel goals. The hero does not always save the day and is sometimes even violent. The alleged victim is not so helpless. And the love interest can be the villain of the plot. They are the famous “femme fatales”, in French, who abuse sensuality to manipulate men.

The plots had a strong urban component and loved to show the city as an oppressive, dangerous place capable of corrupting good men. Night and rainy scenes, hopelessness dark with films done in black and white.