Review Archives

1 | 2 | 3

Today's Date is:

Femme Fatale

Talk about sloppy seconds. "Femme Fatale" is yet another nail in the coffin of director Brian De Palma's careening roster of films, which are either very good (his classic "Carrie" comes to mind), or very, very bad (anyone remember "Mission to Mars?"). This is the filmmaker at his very worst, striving for greatness with the most abhorrent of all material; he milks the erotic thriller genre for everything he can get, borrowing shamelessly from Hitchcock, and yet somehow, he fails to muster even the slightest interest in any of the events of the story or the characters, who are empty and uninspired. ***

The film opens with a jewel heist led by a band of unimportant thieves, who moments later are double-crossed by their leading lady, Lily (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos)... or Laura, whatever the hell her name is. Through a series of ensuing events that span the course of seven years, she finds herself married to the American ambassador to France, which affords her the utmost security in order that she may hide her identity, lest her old pals should locate her and exact some homegrown revenge. But when a meddling photographer named Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) interferes and captures a snapshot of Lily, their lives become intertwined in a series of events that are as baffling and silly as the dialogue and those not-so-hot sex scenes. ***

We've seen movies like this before, though none done nearly half as bad as this. Take a movie like Stephan Elliott's "Eye of the Beholder" from 2000, which was stylish to a fault but lacked a coherent story; in the end, the suave direction and oddly-enticing intrigue that something else was lurking beneath the surface made it worthwhile to a certain degree. De Palma, on the other hand, is unable to instill the film with the slightest ounce of integrity or force: everything from the cunning and dangerous female antagonist, to the luridly exploitative sexual imagery, is a haphazardly retread of material that has long since seen its final glory days. And how about that awful music in the opening theft sequence? Color me cringing! ***

Unfortunately for the film, the cast is unable to keep things lively. In fact, the performances from Romijn-Stamos, Banderas, and even poor Peter Coyote as the simpering husband/ambassador, are laughably ridiculous; I nearly fell out of my chair in hysterics at the sight of Banderas trying to put on the impression that he is a gay man to get into Lily's hotel room. I didn't believe for one minute that these people felt comfortable in their roles: they're merely going through the motions of a runaway screenplay that feels a surprise plot twist near the end of the film will make up for previous mishaps while at the same time jumpstarting our interest. I guess the word "misjudge" isn't in De Palma's vocabulary. I'm sure the film has an audience, but for me, "Femme Fatale" is like going to a four-star restaurant, only to be served microwave burritos. And at least they have some flavor.

The film's 1.85:1 theatrical ratio looks very good in this presentation. Colors are vivid and well-saturated with no bleeding or noise, and fleshtones are very accurate. Contrast is also quite pleasing, with excellent shadow detail and rich, solid blacks. Edges are sharp with only some slight enhancement artifacts visible, and while there are some scenes that contain some moderate film grain, it's nothing distracting. All-in-all, a terrific image. ***

The sound, mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, also makes the most of its available resources, utilizing the entire soundfield with the wafting score to create a nice sense of mood through ambiance. Dialogue is terrific and clean, while channel separation and imaging are in fine form when called upon. Deep bass is minimal for the most part, but when engaged sounds fitfully pleasing. Considering the source material, this one won't disappoint.