In broad daylight: Iciar Bollain's Mataharis (2007) and the revision of film noir

The aim of this article is to analyze Iciar Bollain's Mataharis (2007) from the perspective of the film noir conventions. Although the context within which the female spies work is different from that of the traditional film noir detectives, their position of control - thematized in the film by means of the appropriation of the inquisitive gaze, traditionally seen as a prerogative of the male subject-allows for a wider consideration of the ambiguities and paradoxes that arise from the representation of women as figures of power in the detective fiction.