Femme Fatale (2002 film)

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Femme Fatale
Directed by	Brian De Palma
Produced by	Marina Gefter
Written by	Brian De Palma
Starring	Rebecca Romijn Antonio Banderas Peter Coyote Rie Rasmussen
Cinematography	Thierry Arbogast
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	6 November 2002 (USA)
Running time	114 min
Language	English, French
Budget	~ US$35,000,000
IMDb profile

Femme Fatale is a 2002 film directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Rebecca Romijn as the femme fatale and Antonio Banderas.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Box office 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Plot

• Tagline: Nothing is more desirable or more deadly than a woman with a secret.

In the film, Laure Ash (Romijn) participates in a diamond heist in Cannes, double-crosses her accomplices and escapes to Paris, where she stumbles across her own doppelgänger (naturally portrayed by Romijn) who commits suicide, leaving Laure the opportunity to take her identity and leave the country. Seven years later, Laure (now called Lily Watts) re-surfaces in Paris as the wife of the new American ambassador to France (Peter Coyote). At this point Spanish photographer Nicolas Bardo (Banderas) takes her picture, prompting Laure to manipulate Bardo in order to conceal her former identity and evade her ex-accomplices who are still after the stolen diamonds. A twist near the end accentuates the artificial nature of the story and brings many familiar motifs of De Palma's into play.

[edit] Box office

US Gross Domestic Takings: US$ 6,630,252

+ Other International Takings: $10,208,658

= Gross Worldwide Takings: $16,838,910

The film received negative reviews though it was defended by several high profile critics, notably Roger Ebert who called it one of DePalma's best films. Romijn's acting and cliched plot were both heavily criticized, and several points of the plot were seen to be exploitative and cheap pandering, such as a nonsensical lesbian scene between Romijn and another model, the use of a large black male as the physicially threatening enforcer, and scenes where Romijn and other women were shown in ridiculously revealing and eye-catching outfits whilst purportedly remaining incognito.

The biggest point of contention is the 'twist' at the end of the film which one critic called 'one of the biggest cheats of all time'.

[edit] Trivia

• The movie premiered on 6 November, 2002, which was Rebeca Romijn's 30th birthday.

[edit] External links

• Femme Fatale at the Internet Movie Database
• Femme Fatale at Rotten Tomatoes
• Femme Fatale at Metacritic
• Femme Fatale at Box Office Mojo