Femme Fatale
|
Our Price: $48.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.10 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Femme Fatale
Movie Review: One of De Palma's best! Four and a half stars!
Summary: 4 Stars
Femme Fatale is a fantastic return to form for director Brian De Palma. Forget what the critics say, this is a wonderful film.The story follows the titular character of the bad girls from the film noir genre. When we first meet her, she's watching "Double Indemnity" - a classic noir - in a hotel room, almost as though she's picking up pointers before she goes on a planned heist. But when she double crosses her accomplices and runs off with all the loot, she finds herself in trouble, fearful of her life. Or is she? This film continuously plays with the double-crossing that made the stock character of a femme fatale so popular. It will continuously keep you guessing as to the reality of the situation, but in a very fun, entertaining way.
The problem many critics had with it is they felt the film was too over-the-top, with several clichés and many of the conventions of the genre, but that was the whole intent of De Palma's. He wanted to create a sort of exploitation film on the femme fatale character, and in doing so created a fun and highly stylistic film. There is very little dialogue in the film, which instead places a perfect score in its place to move the story along. The result is a film that seems to wash over you, and grabbing you to take you along for the journey. It is all at once a very artistic, exploitative, fun and gratifying experience.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is perfectly cast as the femme fatale, it seems it was the role she was meant to play. She captures the deceit, looks, sexual energy and danger that the classic character has always oozed. And she does so, I dare say, better then just about any other actress playing the part.
Femme Fatale gets a high recommendation from me. Not everyone will like it, many won't get what the film is trying to achieve, while for others they may just not appreciate it (to each his own), but if you go in with the right frame of mind, you're in for a fantastic treat.
Movie Review: A Great Brian De Palma Piece
Summary: 4 Stars
I thought this movie was fantastic. I know that people said it was "overdone" and too contrived, but I think thye utterly missed the point and the attention to detail that De Palma put in, as well as the superb performance of Stamos in her "debut" leading role.I thought this films ONLY difficult point was the admittedly critical plot device which happens half-way to three-quarters of the way through. It is probably what killed the film for most people, because it just comes at you from nowhere, and it is jarring and it is contrived. However, if you get passed HOW the plot device is done, and ignore WHY it might have happened (two biggies), I'm telling you, it does make every single second of the entire film make perfect sense.
Why are all the clocks stopped at the same time throughout most of the film? What are the pictures on the wall (both the recurring posters and the photographs)? What is the gift for? What are the choices that we make and what part do they play in our future, and of those around us. All of this is revealed in detail.
This film is about choices, and the infinite number of universes (a legitimate theory of Quantum Physics) which are spawned by every action we take in the world. Our choices matter. And De Palma made a film which explores that in a very fanciful way.
It is not De Palma's best film. The Untouchables, Body Double, Scarface and Dressed To Kill are certainly his masterworks in his Oeuvre. My personal favorite though, of all of his, is Phantom Of The Paradise, which is one of the most fantastic films ever made, period, in addition to being a more enjoyable Rock Opera than Tommy.
But I loved Femme Fatale, despite it's flaws, and I've added to my collection of his favorites!
Oh...and Rebecca is not only a great actress in this ...
Expect a bumpy ride, but like a good rollercoaster, enjoy it, even if there are some spots you wished had been smoothed out.
Movie Review: An Effective, if Sometimes Overwrought, Film Noir
Summary: 4 Stars
Brian DePalma is terribly underrated as a filmmaker--one might even legitimately use the term "auteur"--even if so many of his films seem derivative in style and content. Here, he mines a lot of Paul Verhoeven's work ("Basic Instinct," as well as Verhoeven's earlier European thrillers) and gives the production a "haute couture," late 1960s feel that is both breezy and dangerous. There's the requisite icy blonde (Rebecca-Romijn-Stamos, looking like the statuesque softball captain from high school who suddenly discovers expensive makeup) and a black-clad Antonio Banderas, playing the gigolo innocent pulled into the web of intrigue. The plot is fairly standard noir, though DePalma throws in a "what if" last act that is sure to disorient viewers unfamiliar with the director's penchant for split screens and narrative somersaults. The best thing about "Femme Fatale" is that despite showing a fair amount of sex, DePalma is more interested in exploring power as the defining force in our biology. Romijn-Stamos simply wields her body like a blunt instrument; for her, sex is power. By the second half, though, the convolutions of plot and familiar distractions of Romijn-Stamos in some state of undress grow repetitious. Nonetheless, the aesthetics of DePalma's artistic vision--from the confident camera angles to the perversion of Ravel's "Bolero" to the production's fondness for sea foam green--are worth giving this DVD a look. Given DePalma's sensibilities, I wouldn't mind seeing him some day breathe life back into the Bond films.Movie Review: Pastiche at its best...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a terrific film to watch if you are interested in studying film technique, particularly in the 70's avant gard style of the french variety. Brian De Palma loves experimenting with the art of filmmaking and in his latest, one can view all his signature approaches: split screen, dream-sequence, actors appearing in scenes that logically and chronologically, shouldn't be there, echoes and implied homage to the classics, i.e., film noir and Hitchcock. He has been called the master of the erotic thriller. I believe he received this accolade after the release of the highly acclaimed, 'Dressed to Kill'. In ~Femme Fatale~ the eroticism is laid on thick and heavy without taking itself too seriously. I could almost imagine De Palma shooting these scenes smiling and slyly winking at the audience. In fact, the sexually charged scene between Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, close to the end of the film, was almost funny; in a general way, however, this scene was most certainly a tongue and cheek moment for the director, actors and the audience.There's not much this film has to offer narrative-wise. What it does have to offer, though, is a very playful approach to filmmaking and films in general. If you like pastiche with a lot of style and a film-thriller that doesn't take itself too seriously, and you're a Brian De Palma fan, then ~Femme Fatale~ should be an enjoyable experience.
Movie Review: A Hitchcock-esque Thriller
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Brian De Palma has taken the best of Alfred Hitchcock's attributes and molded them into this sexy and provocative thriller.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos stars as Laure, a jewel thief who arranges a sexy tryst at the Cannes Film Festival with a beautiful woman who just happens to be wearing a serpent-shaped bra. Soon, Laure and the sexy woman are making out in a bathroom stall while her cohorts are busy swapping the real bra for a fake one. However, Laure has her own trick up her sleeve.
As the movie progresses, Laure assumes a new identity, marries U.S. Senator Bruce Watts (Peter Coyote), and eventually returns to Paris, where tabloid photographer Nicholas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) becomes part of a much larger picture. However, everything turns out to be just a dream. What will really happen in the end?
Overall, I thought this was a good film. I thought that Rebecca R-S and Antonio Banderas did good jobs with their roles, but the plot was difficult for me to follow at times. I also didn't care for the subtitles, and the split screens made the viewing somewhat difficult at times. Still, I did enjoy the film, and I highly recommend it. People who enjoy good plot twists and turns will definitely enjoy this movie, but be sure to watch very closely to keep up with the plot.