Insert cool sounding title about Double Indemnity here

Alright, so while watching this movie I decided to try and answer question number 3, reflecting on this quote that it is "a film without a single trace of pity or love," to see if I actually agreed with this statement.
Looking at the motivations lying  behind both Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson I honestly believe that quote is one hundred percent accurate. This, typically dark, Film Noir had absolutely no trace of pity or love.

Sorry but neither of these gazes are loving. Look at him, his face is screaming, "I'd bang her". And she's just like "yeah, that's right, I own you- hold my foot," or something.

 Phyllis wanted money. It's as simple as that. When her step-daughter told Walter about how she believed this young lady had killed her mother, there was no other way to put it. It was clear as day even before that. She wanted money and her husband wasn't going to give it to her, or at least wasn't going to give her enough for her likes. This woman is stone cold, and if there was anything truly between Walter and her aside from her feeling that she had enough sexual power over him to manipulate him to her whim it was probably a second hand thought such as, "he's more handsome than the old fart I'm with, so I'd make out with him (awkwardly might I add) to seal the deal." It was some sort of win win for her probably.

With Walter things are different in the sense that I could see people trying to argue he truly had feelings for Phyllis, however they are wrong. An idea society tries to uphold is that romantic attraction and sexual attraction are the same thing. You can love the person and you can love their body, but in the cases of "love at first sight" it's totally their body. Don't try to argue with me, if you are a sexual person you've probably seen somebody and thought, "10/10 would do," Awesome, you think they are either aesthetically pleasing or they are sexually appealing, but you don't know them. That's not the same kind of love. You love that bod. That was Walter. Throughout this whole movie. He saw this chick, pretending to be vulnerable, flirting with him, using her assets to get what she wanted, and he definitely felt something. Enough for her to consume his thoughts, as he said at one point. Let's be honest here, constantly thinking about how attractive a woman is that you just met and had a brief interaction with doesn't sound like a dreamy crush, that sounds like fantasizing. Walter had a creepy thing for this chick, and she knew it. So she gave him a reason to help her. By talking about how hard she has it with this money-wrinkle-bag husband of hers she gave Walter a reason to pity her so that he would be inclined to help. Except, he didn't pity her. He saw that as a reason good enough to justify his actions morally, he was probably thinking "oh she has it so rough maybe it wouldn't be terrible to kill him and take his money".

Let's look at the big picture: Kill man = Get money + Get babe. So, yes, this weakling of a human being looked to feel powerful, get the girl, get money, and in some warped way prove to himself how well he knows his job or how cunning he is. However, no, he did not do it out of love or pity. Phyllis's complaints, claims of love, and amazing job of peppering this man with affection was all the validation Walter needed to go through with it.

Let's cut him some slack though...

Barbara Stanwyck was A++++