Femme Fatale (2002)
Directed by Brian De Palma
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.
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This time, it's mostly Vertigo, with Romijn-Stamos not quite evoking Kim Novak.
More than 20 years ago in "Dressed to Kill," De Palma worked up a nearly as impressive dialogue-free half-hour (with Angie Dickinson), which was a homage to an even more brilliant dialogue-free half-hour Hitchcock created in the classic "Vertigo," when Jimmy Stewart tracked Kim Novak.
De Palma does his typical homages to classic crime films, with a special nod to Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" during a meandering sequence as Nicolas shadows Laure.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos' role is much like the heroines in "Vertigo" and "Rear Window," except for the so-called arty sex and nude scenes.
De Palma has taken a lot of heat over the years for imitating Hitchcock, and Hitch's ghost is certainly lurking around the edges of Femme Fatale; long stretches of the film have Vertigo written all over them.
When CHUD said that, "There's a lot of Vertigo in this movie," De Palma barked back, "There's a lot of Vertigo in all my movies!
That gives you some idea of "Femme Fatale's" knotted heritage, and it gets worse, with homages to Hitchcock's "Rear Window" battling homages to his own "Obsession."
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos' role is much like the heroines in "Vertigo" and "Rear Window," except for the so-called arty sex and nude scenes.
Forced by financial strain, Nicolas sells his stolen snap, then finds himself spying on Lily/Laure through a camera lens a la Jimmy Steward in "Rear Window."
The compulsion to watch is why De Palma keeps returning to "Vertigo" and "Rear Window," and it accounts for the very quality of his bristling style -- the propulsive camerawork, the ostentatious cutting, even the way he grabs our attention as if he were grabbing our throats, trying to force us to see what he sees.
With Femme Fatale, De Palma references his past obsessions Nicholas voyeuristic photography is yet another homage to Rear Window , Laures assumption of a new identity and Nicholas following her around winks at Vertigo and this time around, De Palma even makes an odd nod to Its a Wonderful Life .
And who can forget the shower scene in Psycho, which includes a peeping Norman?
Japan's answer to John Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto does a passable job of emulating Hitchcock's musical mainstay Bernard Herrmann with an edgy "Psycho" like score and a confused rendition of a piece, over the opening caper, that has the sexual overtones of Ravel's "Bolero."
De Palma's borrowings were all the more irritating when it became clear that much of his supposed fealty to the master came less from his soul than from his big production budgets, which enabled him to hire Bernard Herrmann for Sisters and Obsession -- though all he wanted Herrmann to do was imitate his scores for Vertigo and Psycho.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos fits De Palmas need for tawdry nudity while perhaps aspiring to the heights of Hedren's acting in "Marnie."
The movie is very light on dialogue, and many of the words that are spoken come across as if the characters are imitating movie actors (the film opens with Laure watching " Double Indemnity "--for pointers in how to be a vixen, no doubt).
She's lying on her bed, in her panties, with her back to the camera, watching Double Indemnity on TV.
The film begins with Double Indemnity on television.
It's a scene from Billy Wilder's film noir classic "Double Indemnity," and born-to-be-bad Barbara Stanwyck is coming clean to her patsy, Fred MacMurray.
>From Romijm-Stamos' reflection on a television screen showing "Double Indemnity" to a Rashomon-like restaging of the film's climax, DePalma's "Femme Fatale" is drenched in filmic duality.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays a thief named Laure â the first time we see her, sheâs watching Barbara Stanwyckâs evil seductress in the classic film noir "Double Indemnity."
Writer/director Brian DePalma ("Mission to Mars") presents a trashy parody of his own films of the late 70's/early 80's ("Sisters," "Dressed to Kill," "Body Double") with an over the top homage to Hitchcock and himself that's entertaining in spite of a stilted performance from its lead.
This time out, however, he's only repeating himself, borrowing liberally from such past successes as Sisters, Blow Out and The Fury to create a seedily entertaining mindfuck that's high-concept enough to lampoon the red-carpet banality of the Cannes Film Festival and yet also so agreeably lowbrow as to cast Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, officially one of the hottest women on earth, as an exhibitionistic bisexual jewel thief.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
De Palma's borrowings were all the more irritating when it became clear that much of his supposed fealty to the master came less from his soul than from his big production budgets, which enabled him to hire Bernard Herrmann for Sisters and Obsession -- though all he wanted Herrmann to do was imitate his scores for Vertigo and Psycho.
Sisters is densely plotted and aggressively twisted, yet, when compared to the spiraling complexities of Femme Fatale or Raising Cain , its plot feels downright simple.
That gives you some idea of "Femme Fatale's" knotted heritage, and it gets worse, with homages to Hitchcock's "Rear Window" battling homages to his own "Obsession."
De Palma's borrowings were all the more irritating when it became clear that much of his supposed fealty to the master came less from his soul than from his big production budgets, which enabled him to hire Bernard Herrmann for Sisters and Obsession -- though all he wanted Herrmann to do was imitate his scores for Vertigo and Psycho.
De Palma made a series of derivative but richly entertaining noirs in the '70s and early '80s -- "Obsession," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out" -- and "Femme Fatale," arriving in the wake of two stinkers, "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars," is an optimistic return to that vein.
Noted for his inventive cinematic style in such films as Obsession, Body Double, The Untouchables, and Carrie, De Palma succeeds in giving Femme Fatale the exciting look and feel of a thriller.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
At his best, writer-director Brian De Palma ("Dressed to Kill") is a master stylist with a flair for Hitchcockian suspense and complicated, timing-is-everything staging.
More than 20 years ago in "Dressed to Kill," De Palma worked up a nearly as impressive dialogue-free half-hour (with Angie Dickinson), which was a homage to an even more brilliant dialogue-free half-hour Hitchcock created in the classic "Vertigo," when Jimmy Stewart tracked Kim Novak.
There is still enough of a puerile rich kid in him to get a kick out of photographing women in sexy clothes, be it the undies and stockings on Nancy Allen in Dressed to Kill or Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in bustier and boots in Femme Fatale.
De Palma made a series of derivative but richly entertaining noirs in the '70s and early '80s -- "Obsession," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out" -- and "Femme Fatale," arriving in the wake of two stinkers, "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars," is an optimistic return to that vein.
Writer/director Brian DePalma ("Mission to Mars") presents a trashy parody of his own films of the late 70's/early 80's ("Sisters," "Dressed to Kill," "Body Double") with an over the top homage to Hitchcock and himself that's entertaining in spite of a stilted performance from its lead.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
This time out, however, he's only repeating himself, borrowing liberally from such past successes as Sisters, Blow Out and The Fury to create a seedily entertaining mindfuck that's high-concept enough to lampoon the red-carpet banality of the Cannes Film Festival and yet also so agreeably lowbrow as to cast Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, officially one of the hottest women on earth, as an exhibitionistic bisexual jewel thief.
Blow Out and Carrie are considered his finest films, and I think Femme Fatale is almost on that level.
It's also got a character, played by Antonio Banderas, who resembles earlier De Palma heroes from Blow Out and elsewhere.
De Palma made a series of derivative but richly entertaining noirs in the '70s and early '80s -- "Obsession," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out" -- and "Femme Fatale," arriving in the wake of two stinkers, "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars," is an optimistic return to that vein.
The result is a curiously happy ending that seems as utterly perverse, in its own way, as the cruel joke that topped Blow Out, another one of his best films.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
This makes him seem cheap and synthetic when he's compared with Hitchcock (as he most commonly is) or with the Italian neorealists and other humanist filmmakers (as he was by Kael for his Casualties of War).
The man who made " Body Double " is still prepared to make a movie about a desirable woman, even in these days of buddy movies for teenage boys.
Writer/director Brian DePalma ("Mission to Mars") presents a trashy parody of his own films of the late 70's/early 80's ("Sisters," "Dressed to Kill," "Body Double") with an over the top homage to Hitchcock and himself that's entertaining in spite of a stilted performance from its lead.
This is a return to form for De Palma, director of ambitious thriller fare like "Dressed to Kill" and "Body Double."
Following in the footsteps of "Body Double" and "Dressed to Kill," his latest effort similarly involves sex, violence and obsession.
He stumbled badly with his crude Hollywood satire "Body Double," a botched reductio ad absurdum about movies and sexualized violence that, with its leering hostility toward women and cartoon atrocities, only proved that even smart guys can't always keep a handle on their fixations.
Yes, there are a few failures along the way (" Snake Eyes ," "Mission to Mars," " The Bonfire of the Vanities "), but look at the range here, and reflect that these movies contain treasure for those who admire the craft as well as the story, who sense the glee with which De Palma manipulates images and characters for the simple joy of being good at it.
And so it appears that, after several recent diversions (among them, Mission: Impossible and Mission to Mars), De Palma has returned to his favorite endeavor: remaking Hitchcock movies.
De Palma made a series of derivative but richly entertaining noirs in the '70s and early '80s -- "Obsession," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out" -- and "Femme Fatale," arriving in the wake of two stinkers, "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars," is an optimistic return to that vein.
It's the veteran filmmaker's most stylish movie in years, putting an end to the "it's time he hung up his clapboard" comments that followed his dismal "Mission to Mars." Shooting in France with cinematographer Thierry Arbogast (a multiple winner of the César, the French Oscar), De Palma appears inspired.
Writer/director Brian DePalma ("Mission to Mars") presents a trashy parody of his own films of the late 70's/early 80's ("Sisters," "Dressed to Kill," "Body Double") with an over the top homage to Hitchcock and himself that's entertaining in spite of a stilted performance from its lead.
The result is better entertainment than the more conventionally plotted bombast that's preoccupied De Palma for the last decade or so, including "Mission: Impossible," "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars."
If Obsession is DePalma's Vertigo and Dressed to Kill is his Psycho, The Fury is his North by Northwest or The 39 Steps, eventually pairing a fugitive with an ironic femme fatale against power mongers in cross-country pursuit of a platonic symbol, though Robin comes to resemble nothing in Hitch so much as the lighted briefcase from Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly.
This time out, however, he's only repeating himself, borrowing liberally from such past successes as Sisters, Blow Out and The Fury to create a seedily entertaining mindfuck that's high-concept enough to lampoon the red-carpet banality of the Cannes Film Festival and yet also so agreeably lowbrow as to cast Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, officially one of the hottest women on earth, as an exhibitionistic bisexual jewel thief.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
Let’s just say that Brian DePalma’s last nod to Hitchcock was Raising Cain, where he had John Lithgow playing five different characters, including a woman.
But with De Palma serving as his own screenwriter for the first time since 1992's "Raising Cain," "Femme Fatale" presents a consummate film tradesman applying his big bag of tricks in service of an infantile story.
De Palma's last attempt at a Hitchcockian thriller, Raising Cain, was an unintentionally funny mish-mash of Hitch by way of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom.
You get to see glimpses of it in his big studio movies like The Untouchables, Mission: Impossible, and Snake Eyes.
Although De Palma has tried his hand at various genres - sometimes with success ("The Untouchables," "Carrie") and sometimes without it ("Snake Eyes," "Mission To Mars") - it's the erotic thriller that could be his personal Siren.
Since thrillers weren't working for him, he went back into the gangster genre with Carlito's Way, apparently thinking he might duplicate the box-office success of his remakes of Scarface and The Untouchables, after which he marked time before reinventing himself as a hired-hand with movies like Mission Impossible and Mission to Mars.
But just as De Palma crashed and burned after 45 minutes of near-genius in 1998's "Snake Eyes," the writer-director's Big Twist in this film rips so many holes in the plot that after all the cerebral stimulation, it may be hard to not feel let down by the finale.
Femme Fatale is a nifty bit of self-plagiarism from Brian De Palma, back in giddy good form after the wretched Snake Eyes and the downright middling Mission to Mars, in which he quit cribbing from Alfred Hitchcock just long enough to send Stanley Kubrick spinning in his grave.
Although De Palma has tried his hand at various genres - sometimes with success ("The Untouchables," "Carrie") and sometimes without it ("Snake Eyes," "Mission To Mars") - it's the erotic thriller that could be his personal Siren.
Yes, there are a few failures along the way (" Snake Eyes ," "Mission to Mars," " The Bonfire of the Vanities "), but look at the range here, and reflect that these movies contain treasure for those who admire the craft as well as the story, who sense the glee with which De Palma manipulates images and characters for the simple joy of being good at it.
De Palma made a series of derivative but richly entertaining noirs in the '70s and early '80s -- "Obsession," "Dressed to Kill," "Blow Out" -- and "Femme Fatale," arriving in the wake of two stinkers, "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars," is an optimistic return to that vein.
The result is better entertainment than the more conventionally plotted bombast that's preoccupied De Palma for the last decade or so, including "Mission: Impossible," "Snake Eyes" and "Mission to Mars."
Although De Palma has tried his hand at various genres - sometimes with success ("The Untouchables," "Carrie") and sometimes without it ("Snake Eyes," "Mission To Mars") - it's the erotic thriller that could be his personal Siren.
I have unreservedly liked only two of his films Phantom of the Paradise and Carrie.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
She seems like an unlikely femme fatale, but not since Sissy Spacek burned up the screen in "Carrie" has a De Palma woman held the screen as forcefully as Romijn-Stamos, an Amazon blond straight from Helmut Newton's portfolio.
The split-screen effect that he used in "Carrie" and other films is here, the obsession with split identities and doppelgangers (the scent of "Vertigo")…
Noted for his inventive cinematic style in such films as Obsession, Body Double, The Untouchables, and Carrie, De Palma succeeds in giving Femme Fatale the exciting look and feel of a thriller.
I have unreservedly liked only two of his films Phantom of the Paradise and Carrie.
After fumbling around with recent misfires like "Mission to Mars" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities," De Palma's taken his titular 1972 advice - "Get to Know Your Rabbit."
Yes, there are a few failures along the way (" Snake Eyes ," "Mission to Mars," " The Bonfire of the Vanities "), but look at the range here, and reflect that these movies contain treasure for those who admire the craft as well as the story, who sense the glee with which De Palma manipulates images and characters for the simple joy of being good at it.
After fumbling around with recent misfires like "Mission to Mars" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities," De Palma's taken his titular 1972 advice - "Get to Know Your Rabbit."
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
Since thrillers weren't working for him, he went back into the gangster genre with Carlito's Way, apparently thinking he might duplicate the box-office success of his remakes of Scarface and The Untouchables, after which he marked time before reinventing himself as a hired-hand with movies like Mission Impossible and Mission to Mars.
Consider also these titles: " Sisters ," " Blow Out ," " The Fury ," " Dressed to Kill ," " Carrie ," " Scarface ," " Wise Guys ," " Casualties of War ," " Carlito's Way ," " Mission: Impossible ."
Brian De Palma returns in full delirious style with his best movie since Scarface, though its jarring ending has polarized critics and audiences.
I was surprised to be reminded of the unexplained rainfall glimpsed inside a house in Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris, but it occurred to me later that this parallel might not be as implausible as I supposed -- and not just because De Palma is a compulsive moviegoer who sees a lot more than Hollywood product.
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By asking Romijn-Stamos to project the smoldering, evil persona of a woman like Barbara Stanwycks character in Double Indemnity or Rita Hayworths mysterious seductress in The Lady from Shanghai, De Palma expects the impossible.
Seedy photographer Nicolas (Banderas) snaps a picture of the disguised Laure, beginning what De Palma intends as an exploration of intertwining destinies but what amounts to a blathering burlesque of themes handled with great canniness in Tom Tykwer's "Run Lola Run."
Seedy photographer Nicolas (Banderas) snaps a picture of the disguised Laure, beginning what De Palma intends as an exploration of intertwining destinies but which amounts to a blathering burlesque of themes handled with great canniness in Tom Tykwer's "Run Lola Run."
And there is a great shot of her enraptured by all the trouble she is causing as she watches too boys fight over her, just as Jane Greer did in Out of the Past Femme Fatale's DVD Potential De Palma has been enjoying proliferating DVD representation of late, and the Femme Fatale disc would give the "angry man" of cinema a chance to let off more steam, either via an audio track, or in video interviews.
In "Femme Fatale" De Palma is comparable to the sly prankster Luis Buñuel proved himself to be in "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie."
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The director’s remarkable use of water imagery welcomes Jungian readings, beckoning comparisons to Argento’s Trauma .
The plot of a nasty woman betraying a nasty man who then comes after her is similar to The Last Seduction , which also happened to feature the last great femme fatale performance (by the sizzling Linda Fiorentino).