Femme Fatale DVD Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 09.20.2003
The latest thriller from Brian De Palma is better than you probably heard…
Femme Fatale DVD Review
Okay, so I admit that I am a big fan of jewel heist movies, stream-of-consciousness stuff, and film noir, and this film fits all of those. I was disappointed to find out that most critics openly despised this movie, as I thought it was an interesting and fun romp with better performances than I would have thought possible.
The film opens with Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) watching the classic Billy Wilder film “Double Indemnity.” Then we see an elaborate jewel heist, at the Cannes Film Festival, featuring one of the greatest lesbian love scenes ever filmed in a feature film. Laure makes off with the jewels, screws over her partners, and goes on the run.
This is where the film gets really bizarre, and I am hesitant to say much, as much of the film rests on surprises and coincidences. I will try to summarize what happens without giving much away. Years after the heist, Laure is in hiding, pretending to be the French wife of an American Ambassador (Peter Coyote). She meets an intriguing photographer (ladies’ favorite Antonio Banderas), and their relationship seemingly changes with the wind. Laure is involved with more set-ups, shady dealings, and mostly trying to stay away from the men she screwed over in that jewel heist so many years ago.
That is about all I can say about the plot without getting too detailed, but I can talk about the style of the film. De Palma is a director’s director, and a master craftsman. He weaves many subplots and characters through an entirely engrossing plot. He coaxes good performances from Romijn-Stamos and the charismatic Banderas in the lead roles. He knows just how to photograph and edit his films; given the nature of the story the editing is particularly impressive. “Femme Fatale” was not the best movie of 2002, but it was one of the most intriguing, and one of the most fun to try and figure out.
The Video
De Palma is big into color schemes and interesting sets and backgrounds, and the DVD captures all of them perfectly. Presented in widescreen, “Femme Fatale” truly recalls the great film noirs of the 40s and 50s.
The Audio
Nothing to complain about here, as the usual Dolby Surround 5.1 is the mode of presentation. The sound is clear, and the dialogue and action scenes come through perfectly.
Special Features
“Femme Fatale” comes equipped with three featurettes, all of which are about equally interesting. The first is “Visualizing Femme Fatale, about the visual style of the film. It is a good look at De Palma’s style as a whole and how he applied it to this movie. The second is “Femme Fatale: An Appreciation,” just the usual interviews and whatnot. The third is “Femme FataleDressed to Kill,” detailing the costuming in the movie. Easily the most boring of the bunch. There is also a “behind the scenes” feature, which is not much different than the other three featurettes.
We also get the standard cast & crew bios, plus the American and French trailers. Overall not great features, but worth a look for sure.
The Film: 8.5
The Video: 9.0
The Audio: 8.0
Special Features: 6.0
The 411: One of the unfairly panned movies of 2002, “Femme Fatale” is a visually dazzling film featuring a performance from Rebecca Romijn-Stamos that was way better than it had any right to be. Antonio Banderas finally became an interesting actor to me with this role. The real reason to like the film, however, is simply in De Palma’s great storytelling and visual style.
