Femme Fatale
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Movie Reviews of Femme Fatale
Movie Review: The Best Film of 2002: Brian De Palma's Brilliant Comeback
Summary: 5 Stars
The cinema of Brian De Palma is for those who understand it. And to understand the cinema of De Palma, you have to understand the cinema in general. If you don't, you don't deserve to have privilege of wathing any of his films. However, there are people who don't know what cinema and filmmaking are all about, they just think they do. Such people, who are in fact quite numerous, don't know how to watch a De Palma picture and at the and, of course, they dislike it. That's the main reason why De Palma is the most underrated director in the history of filmmaking - he's being misunderstood, just like Hitchcock, De Palma's great idol, used to be (Rear Window, Vertigo). The central theme of De Palma's cinema is the cinema itself and its connection to reality. In other words, De Palma's filmography explores the life-cinema realationship, the cinematic aspect of life. Whether you take a look on such versatile works like his thrillers (Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double, Snake Eyes), where this theme is most evidently present, his action (The Untouchables, Mission Impossible) or war (Casualities of War) films, they are, more or less, all about one key problem, which is how we see and understand reality. Whenever you watch a De Palma film, you can always be sure about one thing: nothing is ever as it seems.
Probably nobody else understands cinema as well as De Palma does. His last film, Femme Fatale, an amazing fantasy mosaic, couldn't have been made by anybody else than a man who loves movies and understands cinema as a perfect expression of art. De Palma is an excellent artist, the best filmmaker of his generation, a brilliant storyteller who has managed to maintain his technical preoccupations and cinematic constants (vouyerism, surveillance, doubles, split-screen, tracking shots) throughout the entire career. In this sense Femme Fatale represents his masterful comeback after Mission to Mars, a film which was also quite underrated and misunderstood. Femme Fatale might be regarded as Brian De Palma's "greatest hits" (as mentioned by Glenn Kelly in Premiere Magazine), his personal "deja vue". It seems like a film De Palma has been making for all 40 years or so, that's how long he's been in film business. It's his own "The Wizzard of Oz", as he called it in an interwiev for Film Comment Magazine. Femme Fatale, which begins with an extraordinary 15-minute technical extravaganza, is an ultimate example of pure filmmaking and, on the other hand, a pefect successor to Memento (2000) and Mulholland Drive (2001). These three films represent the basis of what I personally call "The New Hollywood", "films noir" for the new millenium, all exploring subjects concerned with public identity, reality-fiction and consciousness-dreams relationships. It was high time that someone decided to move away from the conventional way of making movies, take a step further and try something new. De Palma, Nolan and Lynch did exactly that.
Highly recommended for all true film fans and for those who understand what pure fimmaking is all about.
Movie Review: Best film of 2002
Summary: 5 Stars
Mr. De Palma is not a critics' darling, and as such his latest, Femme Fatale, has come in for his usual roasting. Is it deserved? Not if you love a film that embraces the visual splendour and techniques that make cinema a unique art form. Not if you love the medium. Not if you love film.Femme Fatale sees De Palma returning to his forte and his professed preferred genre: the suspense thriller. It is a welcome return considering his recent fare have seen him straying to more mainstream efforts - Mission to Mars, Mission: Impossible - that were shells of his virtuoso films of the late 70s and early 80s.
The film leads off with a stunning 20-minute Jewel heist sequence that takes place during the Cannes film festival of 2001. Completely bereft of dialogue, a la Topkapi, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos's character has the enviable task of lifting a diamond dress from Rie Rasmussun in a bathroom encounter. His first original screenplay in 10 years, De Palma writes a tightly-plotted tale that certainly does not lead the audience by the hand, and the resulting twists it provides will allow different perspectives on the film's events with repeat viewings. It's not passive cinema; too often a film will guide the audience by the hand like a child. De Palma's direction and script respects the audience's intelligence, and it is indeed satisfying.
Antonio Banderas - usually lost without cause if not working with Robert Rodriguez - does what he needs to do with efficiency; Romijn-Stamos, the Femme Fatale of the title, provides the eye candy. The acting is not top drawer, but it does not need to be: we're here to see an auteur in his element: De Palma delivers. I must clarrify that what we are watching is not top-drawer talent - De Palma's stature in Hollywood today means that whenever he takes on personal projects, his funding will not allow access to actors that he may have pursued in days gone by - but they do deliver, and it's not the actors we came to see.
Cinema is more than a stage with a camera - De Palma uses his camera and cinema technique to brilliant effect. Huge swooping camera movements, split-screen, slow motion sequences, no dialogue and an enveloping orchestral score; De Palma's signature is prevalent. And that is good: a director should never be an autonomous entity, happy to turn out derivative drivel that get the masses in and out - directors for hire are too commonplace in Hollywood today - and that is something that De Palma could never be accused of.
Femme Fatale is a great example of a director working in a genre he loves and understands, and given the freedom to create. Total cinema? Indeed, and its smell is sure intoxicating. Welcome back, Mr. De Palma.
Movie Review: Oneiric
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually didn't know the word "oneiric" until I read a review of this film, but it's one that fits. FF's images are stunning and eloquently articulate the drama. The underwater sequence alone is visually breathtaking. Thierry Arbogast, DePalma's cinematographer on the project, has four nominations and two wins for best cinematography from the French Academy of Cinema; and this film reflects that quality. With the amazing lack of verbal language throughout the film, one can easily believe this was a screenplay penned by a director. It is visually stunning.DePalma's classic films "Blow Out," "Dressed to Kill," "Scarface," "Carrie," & "The Untouchables" are in good artistic company with "Femme Fatale." Hopefully, the film will find a DVD audience. The DVD featurettes provide perspective on the production. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, who is married to actor John Stamos, was a quick study. I found her quite believable, stylistically elegant which one would expect from a model turned actress, but also giving a diverse performance with many levels as Lily and Laure. It's hard to recognize her without blue body paint as the same actress who played Mystique in "X-Men," but easier to recognize her as the computer-generated "Simone" in the Al Pacino film. Antonio Banderas was persuaded to do the film by his wife Melanie Griffiths; and the results work well for him. As photographer Nicholas Bardo he gives a varied performance being sassy, seduced, gay, vengeful and confused. Rie Rasmussen who plays Veronica with the classic cobra top was brought to the project by Romijn. Peter Coyote who plays the ambassador says in the featurette that when his wife heard they'd get to spend a month in Paris, he couldn't turn the project down.
Equally a character is the exquisite soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto. It profoundly orchestrates the flow of the film. DePalma said that when we get to the part where we realize the dream, he knew half the audience would groan and half would think it was cool. It worked for me. The story within a story is facinating, recalling "Sliding Doors" with Gwenneth Paltrow. I found the action riviting, the visuals stunning, the performances and direction excellent. This is a DVD that is sure to be on my shelf within the year! Enjoy!
Movie Review: Visually mesmerizing
Summary: 5 Stars
FEMME FATALE is, like THE SIXTH SENSE, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, THE OTHERS and HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT, a film that capitalizes on a sudden change in perception that opens wide the eyes of the audience. Directed by Brian De Palma, it's a masterpiece of visual cinematic artistry.Drop-dead gorgeous Rebecca-Romijn-Stamos plays Laure Ash, the key member of a gang of thieves poised to snatch a piece of diamond-encrusted clothing off a super model in the Palais du Cinema at the Cannes film festival. (I use the word "clothing" loosely. It's more a revealing piece of jewelry, and something you'd allow your teenage daughter to wear to the prom only over your dead body.) In any case, Laure double-crosses her cohorts, leaving them to go to prison while she absconds with the rocks. Stashing the loot with a fence, Ash grasps a sudden opportunity to assume another identity and flies to the U.S., where she marries a Washington, D.C. insider. Seven years later, she returns to France a High Profile Figure, a situation that puts her in danger, especially after paparazzo Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) captures an image of her that's recognized by a former criminal associate, now released from prison and looking to get even and recover the swag.
If the plot so far seems improbable, it is. But no matter, since the excellence of this film is in its sumptuous visual presentation, often with minimal or no dialog, during which the director makes effective use of slow motion and split screen perspectives. The viewers are deliberately left wondering what they're seeing. Then, once it's figured out, De Palma springs his "Gotcha!"
FEMME FATALE is a stylish, intelligent and sexy make-believe story for adults. Several scenes with Ms. Stamos are steamily erotic, made even more attention-grabbing by the chameleon-like quality of the Ash character. I mean, by late in the film, isn't she supposed to be the elegant and proper wife of the ... (Whoops! I almost revealed too much.) And while I didn't care much about his screen persona one way or the other, Banderas is solid in a supporting role as the clueless photographer who pays a big price for a couple of snaps.
As in THE SIXTH SENSE, there are clues that signpost the director's alternate reality. See the film and have some fun.
Movie Review: A De Palma lightning rod
Summary: 5 Stars
Femme Fatale is probably De Palma's most controversial film. It is truly a love-it or hate-it film. Critics were almost totally split on the film. A lot thought it was a total piece of trash, others thought it was a masterpiece of neo-noir filmmaking. Heck, this movie even somewhat split De Palma's most loyal fans down the middle. One thing is for sure: Femme Fatale proved to me once and for all that Brian De Palma is one of the most fearless and talented directors that Hollywood ever has seen or ever will see.
The film's opening is definitely is strongest point. It opens with a 20-minute diamond heist at the Cannes Film Festival in France. This sequence is low on dialogue and high on style. De Palma does an amazing job of keeping the viewer's absolute attention to every detail (even though we still get some surprises at the end). Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays one of the thiefs, Laure Ash. The heist goes wrong (don't they always?) and Laure gets away with the diamonds. Thanks to a convenient case of mistaken identity, Laure is able to switch identities with a French woman, but not before a spying paparazzo (Antonio Banderas) takes her picture from his balcony. The film then jumps ahead seven years, and Laure is back in Paris, but this time as a completely different person, the wife of the American Ambassador to France. The trouble is, the photog is still there, too. Once a photo of Laure is released, the demons from her past come to the forefront, and the movie takes us on its twisting, downhill track to a crazy, mind-blowing final 20 minutes that will either make you flip off the TV or scream, "I love Brian De Palma!" For me, it was the latter.
I think this film is absolutely De Palma's most daring film, and one of his most interesting screenplays. As with all De Palma's, you will either love or hate this movie, but one this is for sure: it will definitely evoke a reaction from all its viewers, and De Palma is one of the few guys who can be relied on for that these days.