*** Official "FEMME FATALE" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Mark Palermo]

A.O. Scott, Charles Taylor, Manohla Dargis, and Ed Gonzalez also gave it raves.

Mark

 

[BarryS]

De Palma deserves more honor as a director. Consider also these titles: "Sisters," "Blow Out," "The Fury," "Dressed to Kill," "Carrie," "Scarface," "Wise Guys," "Casualties of War," "Carlito's Way," "Mission: Impossible." 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. It's not just that he sometimes works in the style of Hitchcock, but that he has the nerve to.

Hooray for Ebert!! My thoughts exactly.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

The beginning, however long it is, is brilliant. The ending is superb. I was less enthralled with the stuff between, but those who just slag off Femme Fatale are overlooking some amazing cinema in sections.

 

[Stephen_M]

Boy, he almost had me. DePalma's latest film looks like it is going to deliver the erotic thriller he has been trying for all these years. but, but, but...

The plotline has a classic noir setup. And, for 3/4rds of the film, DePalma - who wrote the film and filmed it in Paris where he lives - gives this all he has. Ms. Stamos plays a thief who doublecrosses her male partners in an elaborate jewelry heist. This opening sequence - set at the Cannes Film Festival - is as first-rate as DePalma can be - sexy, sinewy precision that includes high-tech chicanery, outrageous costumes, a funny turn by a cat that just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and to top it off, a very hot lesbian makeout scene in a bathroom. Outrageous as it sounds, the whole sequence is bravura filmmaking.

And, we take off the noir road with our heroine/villain trying to escape recognition and the two who see left behind at the heist. If it were only so simple. She befriends Antonio Banderas (who is in fine form) and he begins to fall down the noir road of someone who wanders a little too close to the flame.

But, DePalma has apparently absorbed some David Lynch in his spare time because about 20 minutes from the end, the film takes a strange and, to me, arbitrary Mulholland-Drivish twist that takes the film into a staggeringly different tone. You could feel in the theater a collective slumping of shoulders. That's when you realize that DePalma is still playing games - he is in love with filmmaking and his imagery and talent are in full display. So many wonderful bits and pieces here.

Winking at the audience that this is all just fun is one thing; alas, he has worked up the audience to the point in making a old-fashioned noir that was clicking.

He has done this type of failure before. Body Double is the closest to it and in that film as well, his copycatting elements of both his prior films and Hitchcock along with the jokester in him torpedoed that film in crucial moments. Femme Fatale is more consistent but by the end, it is as if he is patting you on the back then reaches down and gives you a wedgie. See I am just having fun, he is saying. But, DePalma could have had more.

DePalma has made a big deal in interviews about what he loves in films and how living in Paris has liberated him to some degree. Conventional movie making is not a lifestyle for him and more power to him. The problem with Femme Fatale is his little diversion actually works well in both the conventions of noir AND as a work that is stylishly different and dashing as to give the film the DePalma stamp of uniqueness and artistry - at least until the point when you realize that this is a game. And, despite the fact that this is agame playing of a high order, most viewers will opt out by film's end.

Just my $0.02....

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Stephen, I understand what you are talking about regarding the audiences "collective slumping of shoulders" however, there were clues throughout the film as to what was happening. I didn't realize it at first either, but in retrospect, if you're an observant movie watcher, you'll realize what DePalma is doing the whole time. I thought it was brilliant.

Neil

 

[JonZ]

Am I the only person on the earth who likes Bonfire Of The Vanities? :frowning:
My favorite critic James Berardinelli tore Femme Fatale appart :frowning: http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/mo...me_fatale.html

 

[Mark Palermo]

James Berardinelli has never given a good review to a De Palma film, not even Carrie.

I thought Femme Fatale was extraordinary. It's more of an essay about how we perceive movies (art vs. artifice) than a film meant to satisfy Saturday night audiences. The filmmaking is breathtaking. I especially liked the way the movie both accepts and then rejects a typical action thriller climax.
One of the year's best.

Mark

 

[Danny Tse]

John Stamos' voice is heard on one of the phone calls. That was his "cameo".

 

[Emil Stoica]

Am I the only person on the earth who likes Bonfire Of The Vanities?

There is at least 1 more.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Femme Fatale". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
All HTF member film reviews of "Femme Fatale" should be posted to the Official Review Thread.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Crawdaddy

 

[BarryS]

Am I the only person on the earth who likes Bonfire Of The Vanities?

No, I liked Bonfire of the Vanities. I'm not afraid to admit it, dammit.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Well, I'm off to have lunch then catch the first matinee of this film. I'm hoping it doesn't let me down in a perverse kind of way.
Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

***SPOILERS GALORE***
I just enjoyed this film so much. The clues were definitely there all along including the overflowing aquarium, which I was wondering why the hell that was and was able to connect the dots when the film was over.
Even the film's title becomes a "misnomer" as the film is not what it appears to be.
Very good use of the scenes from Billy Wilder's classic film, Double Indemnity as its opening shots to set the tone for the film and trick the audience. Barbara Stanwyck has got to be one of cinema's memorable femme fatale.
In adldition, the music of Ravel's Bolero was also very effective.
~Edwin

 

[Jason Seaver]

I noticed that every clock in the movie was at 3:30, although I didn't quite suspect what it meant at the time. I'm sure there were other hints that something funny was up, too. Gotta love the movies that demand you pay attention.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I just now read Ebert's revew. He wrote about a "shirt still stained with blood after many days". I seem to have missed this one. Anyone care to expand on this?

~Edwin

 

[Robert Crawford]

Edwin,
When her partner was released from prison, seven years after the crime, he was still wearing his blood stain shirt and tuxedo.





Crawdaddy

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Thanks, Craw.
Incidentally, I've noticed some walkouts in my three recent theatrical screenings - Secretary, Punch-Drunk Love and now this.
Like I said in the review thread with a Brian DePalma film, you got to know what you are in for.
~Edwin

 

[Kirk Tsai]

The in-between-bath-segment works poorly IMHO. The ludicrous plot is hard to take, despite the revealing RRS and some impressive use of the camera by De Palma. The overflowing fishtank and RRS in posters gives it a surreal feeling, so the revealation when the second bath comes does not feel as a complete cheat. Yet, with a masterful opening and closing, the middle lets down the picture.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

The ludicrous plot is hard to take

You either go with it or you don't. Those who don't will feel this way. In the end, Laure Ashe is just a simple thief who doublecrosses her partners and not as bad of a person as how she imagined herself by watching Double Indemnity.
~Edwin

 

[Robert Crawford]

Edwin,
Punch-drunk Love is not playing well here in central Michigan with several people walking out on it saying the film's garbage. Do people in small town America have difficulty in watching films which requires them to come out of their cinematic box in order to fully enjoy what they're watching? A young supervisor that works for me had the same reaction to Femme Fatale and kept falling asleep and finally walked out of the movie during a later showing on Friday night. It seems like many moviegoers today have great difficulty in films that need them to use their imagination and think a little bit about what they're watching, otherwise, their comprehension and appreciation of the film is lost almost entirely. In a word, today's moviegoers have gotten lazy which might not be their fault completely due to the style of filmmaking going on in Hollywood today. Take a very simple film like MBFGW about family relationships and you strike gold, anything more complicated could become box office poison.
Crawdaddy