There is, I think, a similarity between the "film noir" - a category in which MISUNDERSTANDING belongs - and ancient Greek tragedy. In both cases the heroes come into conflict with their fate and are finally crushed. The nature of this fate is, of course, different. In ancient Greek tragedy it is a question of the divine order of things, in modern tragedy it is a matter of a human - or to be more precise - a social order of things which defines the limits of the heroes' existence. It is these limits that the heroes attempt to supersede, only to pay, finally, for their arrogance with their lives. The purification for the crimes committed stems from the pity that the viewer feels when he ascertains that the motive which impels the hero to commit a crime has a far deeper and more human meaning: the escape from the confines of an invisible trap, an attempt which ultimately leads to death. The heroes of this film are failures and they are conscious, deep in their hearts, of this failure. It is only a sense of dignity that impels them to fight a battle which is lost before they even begin and it is this, perhaps, that may purify them in the eyes of the viewer. During the whole film they waver between the human and the social entity and their relations have this dual existence: they are predetermined socially (cops and robbers) and they are, at the same time, personal relations which nullify the social element. It is from precisely this duality that the ambiguous nature of their personalities and actions is derived. That is why it is pointless to look for logical explanations behind their every action. The actions of these heroes are a mixture of personal impulses stemming from the need to conform to a code of behaviour or from the anxiety to conserve some measure of personal dignity. Even those who belong to the "straight" world (that is, those who have not broken any law) are basically failures: the mediocrity of their life, the defeats on a personal level and chiefly the feeling of an unavoidable fate which burdens their life, determines their personality. In this sort of situation there are only temporary winners and losers. Defeat is the common fate of all.