Brian De Palma’s “Femme Fatale” begins with a close-up of Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity” (1944) shown on TV, the mirror image of the film’s lead, Laure Ash (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos), showing on the screen.
The title comes in as the sound of a gunshot and the camera slowly pans backwards, revealing Romjin-Stamos (hereafter Romjin, now passing) in a hotel bed, killing time before when a theft takes place during the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Let De Palma start his 2002 film with a great gesture, especially for such a small scene and the first moment in his film. It’s a warm-up to how audacious this is, as the filmmaker is forever tied together with words like “controversial” and “Hitchcockian” lacking both timidity and any impulse. to rule everything.
In the scene that follows, the role of Ash in an elaborate jewelry theft involves seducing an actress at a world premiere, while the other thieves hang in the air ducts, waiting. on the other side of a bathroom stall and even try to hold a curious cat. from sabotaging another part of the operation.
Like the plot of “Femme Fatale” overall, it’s utterly ludicrous but presented in such grandiose manner and staged with the superb precision one would expect from De Palma, the ignorance Its almost unrecognized.
Of course, there must be easier ways to steal 500 diamonds worth $10 million, but De Palma, the brilliant, underrated in “Mission: Impossible” (1996), had one off to a wild start, choreographed a caper so compelling that even Ethan Hunt can no doubt do it.
The sequence is set to a great point by Ryuchi Sakamoto, sounding like Ravell’s “Bolero” at times and like a sinister cousin of “The Shining” (1980) in others. Most movies will end with a sequence like this, while De Palma just assures audiences that you haven’t seen anything yet.
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Following the bravura prologue, we follow Laura as she escapes from her murderous colleagues and finds herself in the care of a couple who are mistaking her for someone else. A case of identity confusion turns into a golden opportunity, when Laura becomes Lily.
Seven years passed, and we found out that Lily is now the wife of a powerful politician and holds a low reputation. Nicolas, a paparazzi, played by Antonio Banderas, has been tasked with taking a photo of Lily full of allusions and in doing so she threatens to use her effective ruse.
Visuals and themes from De Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” (1996), “Blow-Out” (1981) and “raise Cain” (1992) surfaces, prompting critics to accuse the director of merely repeating himself me.
Of course, when Sting plays his biggest hits, he gets a standing ovation but when De Palma does it, the poison pens come to life.
Roger Ebert rated it 4 stars and called it one of De Palma’s best films. The film has been developing a cult status among film buffs; Warner Bros even added the movie to the Warner Archive Collection.
FATALE FEMME (2002)https://t.co/hr8S2f743K pic.twitter.com/XNrh8GCRtV
– NeoText (@NeoText_Films) March 18, 2021
Here’s the problem: for a filmmaker both lauded and celebrated for evoking Alfred Hitchcock in his approach to cinematography, few are on De Palma’s level. If this is what applying The Master of Suspense’s style to one’s own approach to filmmaking, others either imitate Hitchcock to reduce effectiveness imitating De Palma imitating Hitchcock.
Look no further than Paul Verhoeven’s “Basic Instinct” (1992), a wholesale plagiarism from De Palma’s Dress to Kill (1981). I find De Palma’s films as easy to protect audiences as they like, although not all of his films are as good as “Femme Fatale”.
One more thing about De Palma – he made “raise Cain”, a stunning medley of his biggest hits, and “Psycho” (1960), after the massive flop of “The Bonfire” of the Vanities” (1990). “Femme Fatale,” in a similar way, is a return to basics but also a return to full, colorful form.
His previous film, “Mission to Mars” (2000) was a huge disappointment but here, his return, is sly and for sure. If “Femme Fatale” is simply an “exercise,” it’s a full-body leg, arm, trunk, and upper body workout.
While young filmmakers demonstrate their cinematic control through extensive use of CGI technology, De Palma, like a creative child with thousands of carefully placed dominos, can fascinates you, time and time again, by designing, choreographing and staging his scenes with a dancer’s precision.
De Palma is a conductor. Did I mention I’m a fan?
QUICK FACT: De Palma says he hired Romijn late in the casting process, by selling the main ability his lead actress requested. She must be”horribly sexy‘ said the director.
At first, Romjin didn’t seem tough enough to play the role of the opinionated title; when she says to Banderas, “I’m a bad girl, Nicolas, really bad,” you don’t quite believe her.
It’s not until the extended bar scene that follows that we fully witness how dangerous and ruthless she is: as she cheers Nicolas as he defeats a rapist, the smile invites Romjin’s appeared very cruel. I’m not sure if Romjin is a great actress, but she’s great in this regard.
Banderas is usually funny and entertaining here, even though this is a Romjin movie. De Palma frequently appeared Greg Henry and so did Peter Coyote, and in a brilliant voice, John Stamos.
The climax (there are a few of them actually) has a remarkable underwater shot that ties us back to the first act, and is so well done, it makes me forgive the raw inconsistency. in the third act.
In fact, I suspect De Palma was aware of this and could not have been more concerned. As a pure cinematic, these flawless performance scenes (most of which are “Femme Fatale”) overshadow the limitations of the plot. De Palma’s rendering and delivery of these complex and strange moments is still flawless.
Most of Romjin’s performance is an exercise; when she is finally released in the third act, the movie will have to pay a decent fee. Although some of De Palma’s films have been accused of misogyny (especially the 1984 “Body Double”, which I’m not a fan of), that doesn’t apply here.
In “Femme Fatale” there are characters who are mistakenly deduced but the movie sided with Laura/Lily and celebrates her ability to survive by changing her identity.
In 2002, audiences and especially critics were inclined to dislike the latest work “from the director of “Scarface” and “The Untouchables” (an influential contemporary film poster) that pushed The movie hits theaters after a few weeks. Twenty years later, “Femme Fatale” is still not to be missed and is one of De Palma’s best-selling and most successful works.
I suspect Hitchcock himself loved it.
