The maps in Crime of Passion are almost all at Police Headquarters, where they serve exclusively as décor - no one consults them, or points at them, or even looks at them in passing. Nonetheless, their consistent positioning in the frame and in the light makes them a key element in the expressive composition of scenes in this space. This makes them more than just establishing décor: they help to visualise the complex power relations between officers at Headquarters.
Maps are differently expressive when associated with the film's female protagonist. When we first see her she is a powerful columnist on a San Francisco daily. Her framing by maps, whether in the Press Room at Police Headquarters or at her own place of work, suggests her discursive dominion over the area those maps represent:
When she gives up her career to become the wife of a police detective, she is moved from city centre to suburbs, and is no longer shown with maps as part of her world.
