...suspenseful and sensuous, exasperatingly preposterous, and almost every minute entertaining.
Tools:
Send to a friend »
When director Brian De Palma burst onto the movie scene in the seventies, he was hailed by many critics as a new Hitchcock. Indeed, De Palma's early work showed all the promise of his following in the Master's footsteps.
Films like "Sisters" (1973), "Obsession" (1976), "Carrie" (1976), "Dressed to Kill" (1980), "Blow Out" (1981), "Scarface" (1983), "Body Double" (1984), and "The Untouchables" (1987) combined Hitch's command of mystery, suspense, and sly humor to ensure De Palma a long and memorable career. But with the possible exceptions of "Carlito's Way" and "Mission Impossible," the director hit a fallow period in the nineties with things like "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Raising Cain," "Snake Eyes," and "Mission to Mars."
Thus, it was with a mixture of high hope and worst fears that I awaited his latest venture, "Femme Fatale" (2002). Imagine my surprise when both of my expectations were met. "Femme Fatale" shows all the marks of the writer-director's best work, yet it's sometimes frustratingly pretentious and coy, too, with intentional surprises and ambiguities that can be maddening on first viewing and only come to light when the movie is over. In all, though, I think that "Femme Fatale" is worth a look, its brilliance outshining its muddle by a decent margin.
The movie might best be termed a sexy noir thriller, not an uncommon description of a De Palma film. The movie's title is appropriate, as one of the staples of any film noir is the deadly female, here played by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. De Palma says on one of the disc's accompanying featurettes that he is often criticized for making women victims in his movies. This time out the woman's character is decidedly not a victim. Then, to ensure we understand from the outset that this is a modern film noir, the opening credits begin over a television showing the classic forties noir, "Double Indemnity."
Moreover, to confirm that we know the film is going to be sexy, De Palma has chosen not only the sexy Romijn-Stamos to star but the sexy Antonio Banderas as her leading man. Although they don't exactly ignite the screen with their romantic passion, nor are they meant to, they do work well together in an ironic way, which becomes clear by the film's close. Neither she nor Banderas have to be great actors to accomplish their work; they merely have to look good and move as directed. I hate to conjure up visions of Hitchcock's "cattle," but they have no trouble following De Palma's direction.
The plot is a kind of "Mulholland Drive" or "Memento" affair that keeps you guessing most of the time, requires patience to play out, and begs repeat viewing. Except that it's not as multilayered as the aforementioned films. Indeed, once the unexpected is explained in "Femme Fatale," it all seems quite easy, and it's at that time a second run-through is helpful mainly for sorting out the director's handiwork in maintaining a logical continuity you hadn't before recognized was there.
Romijn-Stamos plays a lady named Laure (or is it Lily? You'll have to wait to find out) who is first seen involved in a big jewel robbery at the Cannes Film Festival, one of those "Mission Impossible" heists that are so much fun to watch carried out. Only this time things don't work out as planned, the boss of the gang is wounded and imprisoned, and Laure goes off alone with the loot.
Attempting to hide out, she heads for Paris, where she is mistaken for another woman whom she exactly resembles, a woman whom she watches commit suicide, a woman whose identity and passport to America she conveniently assumes. On the plane to the States she meets a billionaire named Watts (Peter Coyote), and the extended, almost hour-long setup for the film is complete. The amazing thing about this prologue (besides its length) is that it is almost completely free of dialogue! I suppose sometimes actions speak louder than words, and given De Palma's expertise with a camera, one hardly notices the absence of talk.
Anyway, at this point we suddenly fast forward seven years to 2008 and find three major developments: (1) Laure/Lily is now married to the billionaire, who has since become the American Ambassador to France; (2) her old jewel-thief boss has just been let out of prison is determined to get her and the diamonds at all cost; and (3) a slacker photographer, Nick Bardo (played by Antonio Banderas. Remember him? He's in the picture, too), has agreed to try and snap a photograph of the Ambassador's wife, who is supposed to have a mysterious past. In following Laure/Lily to get the picture, Nick becomes involved with the woman, involved with the jewel thieves following her, and involved with conspiracies, kidnappings, ransoms, you name it. This whole arrangement seems pretty far-fetched, but as goofy as it all gets, it maintains one's interest, if only to see just how far De Palma will go with it. You never know what's going to happen next, no matter how incredible, until you finally realize that nothing is as it seems. The movie gives the words "deja vu" new meaning.
Average user rating (1-5):