Femme Fatale (2002)

• Year: 2002
• Released: 06 Nov 2002
• Country: France, Switzerland, United States
• Adwords: 2 wins & 4 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280665/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/femme_fatale
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/femme-fatale
• Available in: 720p, 1080p, 720p
• Language: English, French, Spanish
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
• Runtime: 114 min
• Writer: Brian De Palma
• Director: Brian De Palma
• Cast: Rebecca Romijn, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote
• Keywords: paris, france, flashback, adultery, france, blackmail,

	6.2/10
	59/100
	39% – Audience

Femme Fatale Storyline

International con artist/thief Laure Ash helps pull off a diamond robbery in Cannes during the annual film festival. She double-crosses her partners-in-crime and makes off with the diamonds to Paris where she accidentally assumes the identity of a distraught woman who commits suicide and then leaves the country. Seven years later, Laure (now called Lily Watts) re-surfaces as the wife of the new American ambassador to France where a certain Nicolas Barto, a Spanish photographer, takes her picture thereby setting the stage for a motion of events as the evil Laure resorts to low, underhanded means to protect her former identity.

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Femme Fatale Movie Reviews

Overblown and mishandled

FEMME FATALE is another example of how Brian De Palma’s star has waned over the years. Give me the director circa 1980 and the likes of DRESSED TO KILL and BLOW OUT and he could do no wrong; but as with many of the young directors of the 1970s, he seems to be unable to make a good film these days. FEMME FATALE, written and directed by De Palma, is a case in point. It’s a confusing, convoluted thriller, badly over-directed by the once great; the opening robbery sequence should be amazing, featuring orchestral music, shocking scenes of violence and sexuality, and hard-working cinematography. Instead it feels overblown and silly, and it’s hard not to burst into laughter at the earnestness of it all.

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, best known as the blue-skinned mutant in X-MEN, is a poor choice for the lead role; she just doesn’t have the acting chops for the job. Antonio Banderas is better, but underutilised and acting with tongue in cheek for the most part (and who can blame him?). The film seems to go on forever and deals one unconvincing plot twist after another, and in the end it just went over me rather than involving me.

so complicated

Mystery woman Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn) and her accomplices steal a valuable jewel during the Cannes film festival. The heist goes wrong and she escapes with the jewel. In Paris, she’s mistaken for her doppelganger Lily by a couple. Laure gets thrown off a balcony by her accomplice Racine. She wakes up after the couple brings her to Lily’s apartment. Lily had disappeared after her husband and daughter’s deaths. Lily returns home and commits suicide. Laure takes over Lily’s identity. She flies to American. On the plane, she catches the eye of Bruce Watts (Peter Coyote). Seven years later, she returns to Paris as the wife of Ambassador Watts. Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) is a paparazzi who gets entangled with her. Her old accomplices Racine and Black Tie are still after her.

This has many of the hallmarks of a Brian De Palma film. His style is everywhere. The movie starts with a overly complicated robbery. Then it goes off with so many complicated coincidences that it becomes unbelievable. It becomes an exercise more than a story. There are also a couple of questions about logic. It may be more advantageous to keep the first act a secret from the audience and reveal each secret for shock value. The movie is too complicated for its own good.

I Would Expect Much More Than That for a Brian De Palma Movie

The thief Laurie Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) steals the expensive diamond jewel called ‘Eye of the Serpent’ in an audacious heist during an exhibition in Cannes 2001 Festival. She double-crosses her partners and is mistakenly taken as Lily, a woman who lost her husband and son in an accident and is missing since then, by an ordinary family. One day, while having bath in Lily’s bathtub, Lily comes back home and commits suicide. Laurie assumes definitely Lily’s identity, goes to America where she marries a rich man, who becomes the Ambassador of USA in France. When Laurie returns to France, her past haunts her.

“Femme Fatale” is a confused movie and the flawed plot presents many points not well-explained. For example, why should Laurie leave the safety of living in USA, having a fortune from the robbery (and maybe from a divorce from a rich man), and comes back to France, where she could feel jeopardized by her past? Certainly It would not be to stay with her “beloved-husband” in Paris. Therefore, there is no plausible explanation for her return to Paris. Further, divorces are common in America, so it would be very easy to her to resolve her problem. In addition, this situation of double life has been successfully explored in many movies, like for example by David Lynch in “Lost Highway” and “Mulholland Drive”. The use of a classic scene (in this movie, ‘Double Indemnity’) is also very common technique. I would expect much more than that for a Brian De Palma film but in the end it is entertains. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): “Femme Fatale”