It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini.

The film is set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with her boss.

Crane's situation changes when a stranger comes to the barbershop and offers him the opportunity to join him as a partner in a promising new business, in exchange for an investment of ten thousand dollars.

In 1949 Santa Rosa, California, Ed Crane is married to Doris, a bookkeeper with a drinking problem, and works in a barbershop that is owned by his brother-in-law, Frank.

"[4] The directors took the title of the film from the 1899 poem written by William Hughes Mearns entitled "Antigonish" and they chose it in reference to the character of the barber, to reflect his emotional emptiness.

Set in 1949, the plot—according to Joel Coen—"is heavily influenced" by the work of writer James M. Cain, in particular, the novels Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce.

This storytelling device was an homage to Cain, whose stories usually featured characters with conventional jobs who, motivated by need or greed, ended up involved in a crime.

The failure of a "perfect plan" to raise money appears in Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, both novels narrated by down-and-out working-class men during the Great Depression.

Cinematographer Roger Deakins drew inspiration for his work from the 1940s and 1950s films such as This Gun for Hire, The Blue Dahlia, Kiss Me Deadly, and Touch of Evil.

[14] Authors Jean-Pierre Boulé and Enda McCaffrey compared Crane's attempt to escape from his routine life with Jean-Paul Sartre's idea of a "search for transcendence".

[15] Although The Man Who Wasn't There, cataloged as postmodern, inherited film noir thematic and narrative elements, at the same time it explored concepts of the post World War II period, portraying America's early postwar years.

The story was contextualized by events such as UFOs, references to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Werner Heisenberg's reflections on humanity, and the idea of succeeding in an age of opportunity.

The Coens sent the script to producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title; they intended to start production in 1999, but taking advantage of the availability of George Clooney, they dedicated themselves to O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Jon Polito and Tony Shalhoub, two other actors already known to the Coens, joined the cast, followed by Adam Alexi-Malle, Katherine Borowitz, Richard Jenkins, and Johansson.

Compared to older American film noir, Deakins used a wide range of grays and attempted to create low contrast without many strong shadows, using fewer and larger lights.

Defense attorney Freddy Riedenschneider's peaked lapel double-breasted suit was inspired by Salvador Dalí, according to costume designer Mary Zophres: "It's a bit unusual for the time and suggests opulence."

Later, the team moved to East Los Angeles and then to the Musso & Frank Grill restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, where Ed Crane meets his attorney for the first time.

The exterior scenes of Ed Crane's house were filmed in the Pasadena neighborhood of Bungalow Heaven, a popular and affordable location in the mid-twentieth century.

The film's soundtrack consists of classical music, primarily piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven, interspersed with seven new compositions by Carter Burwell.

Some of the compositions feature "cyclical" structures that symbolize the situation the protagonist finds himself in and his difficulty in freeing himself from it, but at the same time, the Coens felt it was essential to the character that the music suggests "a vague longing".

Journalist Dan Goldwasser described Burwell's work as "dark and solemn" and wrote that the main composition, "The Trial of Ed Crane", has "a kind of romanticism with just a hint of hope".

It was the first Coen film to be released in black and white, something the directors had tried unsuccessfully with Blood Simple (1984) and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) in the face of the advantages of color distribution.

DVD extras included commentary by the Coen brothers and Thornton, a sixteen-minute making-of, an interview with Deakins, five deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and promotional videos.

In an in-depth interview with Deakins, the cinematographer discusses the pros and cons of shooting in black and white, his aesthetic influences, and his experience working with the Coens.

Richard Schickel of Time wrote: "The ability to show no emotion isn't a highly prized quality in movie leads, but Thornton, that splendid actor, does it perfectly as Ed Crane, a taciturn small-town barber, circa 1949".

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader noted: "Joel and Ethan Coen stay true to their penchant for bumbling, neo-noir heroes, and their firm belief that life normally turns out lavishly horrific."

Likewise, Marc Savlov of Austin Chronicle announced that it was "the most beautiful film of the year" and added that "Billy Bob Thornton's performance represents a dazzling rough diamond".

The Chicago Reader compared the photography to Federico Fellini's 8½ and reviewer Matthew Turner of View London commented that black and white "hasn't looked this splendid since the 1940s".

Despite writing a lukewarm review, Todd McCarthy in Variety praised Deakins' work, Dennis Gassner's sets, and Mary Zophres' costumes to create a "superior representation of the post-war period in a small town".

The film did not convince Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun, who said: "The Man Who Wasn't There is an intellectualized, stylized, completely empty period production.