Epsilon Motion Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Femme Fatale
Nothing is more desirable or more deadly than a woman with a secret.
A $10-million diamond rip-off, a stolen identity, a new life married to a diplomat. Laure Ash has risked big, won big. But then a tabloid shutterbug snaps her picture in Paris, and suddenly, enemies from Laure's secret past know who and where she is. And they all want their share of the diamond heist. Or her life. Or both.
- Original title
- Femme Fatale
- Language
- EN
- Country
- FR,CH
- Budget
- $35,000,000
- Revenue
- $16,800,000
JPV852
May 18, 2022 · via TMDB
** Contains spoilers ** Lower tier movie from De Palma that has some good direction and acting was... okay, but the ending still never quite worked even after seeing this again (third time if I recall). The whole it was all a dream felt like a cheat. On the other hand, as mainstream erotic-thrillers go, it's worth a watch if you're interested in that subgenre, it's not a bad way to spend 2 hours. **3.0/5**
John Chard
Nov 8, 2015 · via TMDB
Isn't sugar better than vinegar? **SPOILER ALERT - The last paragraph makes reference to a 1940s film that constitutes a spoiler. ** There rarely seems to be anything in between where Brian De Palma films are concerned, cinematic lovers of all kinds by and large either trash or laud his films. Femme Fatale is no different, one critic - both professional or amateur - will have it as a 1/10 movie, another will have it at the maximum rate available. Femme Fatale is high grade stuff if one is either a De Palma fan or a lover of film noir. Conversely if these two things don't tick your film loving boxes then the law of averages suggests you should have - or should - stayed/stay away from it. De Palma opens up the doors to his fun house and invites noir lovers to come on in and enjoy. It's difficult to write about the plot because it holds many twists and turns, it's a veritable supply of uppers and downers, twisters and benders, all sexed up and pumped full of De Palma's trademark tricks and devilish rug pulls. In truth the story and set-up is predictable, but the journey is what makes the pic ooze quality and bare faced cheek, with the director giggling away like a schoolgirl in the background. Opening up with a sequence that sees our titular fatale (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) watching famed noir classic Double Indemnity, De Palma proceeds to homage and love the film noir world. As he uses split-screens, canted angles, up-tilt shots, shadow plays etc, the narrative pulses with eroticism and impending cruelty, this really is a femme fatale based movie of the grandest kind. As events unfurl, with hapless photographer Nicola Bardo (a fun packed Antonio Banderas) caught in the web, Ryuichi Sakamoto's magnificent classical based score swirls around like some sort of peeping tom. The latter of which finds a shifty accomplice in Thierry Arbogast's noir photography. It's a picture awash with dupes, dopes and vengeful criminals, where the themes of identity, duality, sexuality and distorted perceptions gnaw away at those investing fully in the viewing experience. Some critics (prof and amat) have lazily likened the film to David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, as if De Palma in 6 short months watched Lynch's movie and then knocked this film out! The copy-cat charge as funny as the rug-pull that De Palma pulls here. Besides, as any film noir lover will tell you, this has more in keeping with Fritz Lang's 1944 noirer "The Woman in the Window" than Lynch's film, which is no bad thing at all, and De Palma knew that. 8/10
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Shout! Factory Amazon Channel
Rebecca Romijn
Laure Ash / Lily Watts
Antonio Banderas
Nicolas Bardo
Peter Coyote
Watts
Ériq Ebouaney
Black Tie
Édouard Montoute
Racine
Rie Rasmussen
Veronica
Thierry Frémont
Serra
Gregg Henry
Shiff
Daniel Milgram
Pierre / Bartender
Jean-Marc Minéo
Seated Guard
Éva Darlan
Irma
Jean-Marie Frin
Louis
Philippe Guégan
Bespectacled Man
Laurence Breheret
Flight Attendant
Salvatore Ingoglia
Truck Driver
Matthew Géczy
Embassy Guard
Laurence Martin
Nathalie
Jo Prestia
Napoleon
David Belle
French Cop
Françoise Michaud
Woman with Blind Man
Alain Figlarz
Sex Shop Man
Valérie Maës
The Blonde in Restroom, at Bridge and in Cafe
Dan Herzberg
Surveillance Room Guard
Sandrine Bonnaire
Special Guest Cannes Film Festival
Régis Wargnier
Special Guest Cannes Film Festival
Yves Marmion
Special Guest Cannes Film Festival
Gilles Jacob
Cannes Film Festival Participant
John Stamos
Agent (voice) (uncredited)
Thierry Arbogast
Director of Photography
Roger Simonsz
Second Unit Director of Photography
Olivier Bériot
Costume Design
Virginie Arnaud
Stunt Double
Brian De Palma
Director
Bill Pankow
Editor
Suzanne Smith Crowley
Casting
Tarak Ben Ammar
Producer
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Original Music Composer
Jean-Paul Mugel
Sound Engineer
François Groult
Sound Mixer
Laurent Quaglio
Supervising Sound Editor
Brian De Palma
Writer
The Godfather Part II
Rear Window
Double Indemnity
The Lives of Others
North by Northwest
Rififi
The Killing
Le Cercle Rouge
The Big Sleep
Eyes Wide Shut
Breathless
Three Colors: White
Saw
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Blow Out
Match Point
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pickpocket
Irreversible
Dead Ringers
Munich
Following
Brother
The American Friend
Mission: Impossible
Strange Days
Dog Meet Goose
Live Flesh
The Hitcher
Insomnia
Heart Blackened
The Da Vinci Code
The Ferpect Crime
Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard
To Die For
Ocean's Twelve
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Crash
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
Next Door
Wild Things
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Heist
Willenbrock
A View to a Kill
Shooting Straight
Entrapment
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Desperate Measures
A Night in Montmartre
Hardware
Young Adam
Sliver
Jade
Murder
The Parallel Corpses
Mujeres de medianoche
FearDotCom
De quel côté est la Seine ?
Chinatown
The Tenant
Sudden Fear
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Dressed to Kill
Basic Instinct
Kiss of the Dragon
Kill 'em All 2
Sorry, Wrong Number
The Last Seduction
Dream Lover
Frantic
The Devil's Double
Greta
The Infernal Machine
Crimes of Passion
Kill Me Again
Killing Zoe
Dead Man Down
Chloe
In Secret
Crime of Passion
Palmetto
Deep Water
Nov 6, 2002
Mar 25, 2003
DVD / VHS
May 12, 2015
Warner Archive Collection DVD
May 17, 2022
Shout! Factory Blu-ray
