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Movies / On DVD / Femme Fatale
Femme Fatale

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Femme Fatale (2002)

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Reviews Counted:133

Fresh:64

Rotten:69

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: The thriller Femme Fatale is overheated, nonsensical, and silly.

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: Director Brian De Palma returns to familiar terrain with FEMME FATALE, a loopy, sexy thriller that plays like a "greatest hits" of the controversial director's tics, tricks, and obsessions. Here... Director Brian De Palma returns to familiar terrain with FEMME FATALE, a loopy, sexy thriller that plays like a "greatest hits" of the controversial director's tics, tricks, and obsessions. Here the story follows a beautiful seductress (Rebecca Romjin-Stamos) who betrays her cohorts during an elaborate diamond heist at the Cannes Film Festival, then disappears to America under the stolen identity of a dead French girl to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Seven years later she returns to Paris when her American husband (Peter Coyote) accepts a position as French ambassador. That's when Antonio Banderas, as a goofy photographer, enters the picture and becomes her lover and dupe in another elaborate scheme. Along the way there's steamy lesbianism, misogynistic violence, split-screens, double-crosses, time loops, VERTIGO-style stalking, a hot striptease, and plenty of dark comedy and sly homage to other films, all in the classic De Palma tradition. His fans should be thrilled, as this harkens back to the director's DRESSED TO KILL, BLOW OUT, and BODY DOUBLE days. Novices should prepare to throw credibility to the wind and just enjoy the stylistic bravado, the twists and turns, and the ravishing Stamos--who backs up her beauty with a captivating, enigmatic performance. [More]

Starring: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry

Starring: Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas, Peter Coyote, Gregg Henry, Rie Rasmussen, Eriq Ebouaney

Director: Brian De Palma

Director: Brian De Palma
Screenwriter: Brian De Palma
Producer: Tarak Ben Ammar, Marina Gefter
Composer: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Reviews for Femme Fatale

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...spellbinding fun and deliciously exploitative.

Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment Comment
11/10/02
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

Brian De Palma returns in full style with his best movie since Scarface.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The rest of the plot is impossible to explain without blowing whatever tension there is, although it's more comedy than suspense De Palma creates.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
11/06/02
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday

At once half-baked and overheated.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
11/06/02
Todd Anthony
Todd Anthony
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Nearly surreal, dabbling in French, this is no simple movie, and you'll be taking a risk if you choose to see it. I enjoyed the ride (bumps and all), creamy depth, and ultimate theme.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | comment Comment
11/06/02
Ross Anthony
Ross Anthony
Hollywood Report Card

Though there are entertaining and audacious moments, the movie's wildly careening tone and an extremely flat lead performance do little to salvage this filmmaker's flailing reputation.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
11/06/02
Rod Armstrong
Rod Armstrong
Reel.com

The film virtually chokes on its own self-consciousness.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
11/05/02
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

...Brian De Palma is utterly mad: cinema mad, set-piece mad, style mad. It's a beautiful madness.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
11/05/02
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

This is pure, exciting moviemaking. You won't exactly know what's happening but you'll be blissfully exhausted.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
11/06/02
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

Femme Fatale is not the director's best work ever, but it is as good as we've seen him be in much too long a time.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
11/10/02
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

When [De Palma's] bad, he's really bad, and Femme Fatale ranks with the worst he has done.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
11/06/02
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

A soap-opera quality twist in the last 20 minutes...almost puts the kibosh on what is otherwise a sumptuous work of B-movie imagination.

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
11/05/02
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

It's the best bad movie out there.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
11/06/02
Jay Boyar
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel

An erotic thriller that's neither too erotic nor very thrilling, either.

Full Review Source: Houston Community Newspapers | comment Comment
11/08/02
Gary Brown
Gary Brown
Houston Community Newspapers

It's full of cheesy dialogue, but great trashy fun that finally returns De Palma to his pulpy thrillers of the early '80s.

Full Review Source: Des Moines Register | comment Comment
11/08/02
Jeffrey Bruner
Jeffrey Bruner
Des Moines Register

Even accepting this in the right frame of mind can only provide it with so much leniency.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
11/20/02
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

Great over-the-top moviemaking if you're in a slap-happy mood.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
11/08/02
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Feels like nothing quite so much as a middle-aged moviemaker's attempt to surround himself with beautiful, half-naked women.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
11/06/02
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Femme Fatale

July 28, 2006: Trailer Bulletin: Hartnett, Scarlett & Swank in De Palma's "Black Dahlia"
Master of suspense / veteran storyteller / admirer of Hitchcock / Brian De Palma has a new film on the horizon, his first since 2002's "Femme Fatale," and it looks to... More...

July 20, 2005: Get Your First Beautifully Gruesome Peek at "Slither"
Chalk it up to a relatively slow news week, but the crew over at CHUD.com just got an exclusive peek at this crazy gory freaked-out monster from an upcoming horror flick called... More...

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