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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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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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So what was De Palma thinking...did the moviemaking mastermind behind such intriguing fare like Blow Out, Scareface, and the super-charged Mission: Impossible drink too much cough syrup to the point where it left him uncharacteristically disoriented?

Full Review Source: TheWorldJournal.com | comment Comment
02/03/03
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
TheWorldJournal.com

Como obra de arte, este projeto falha grosseiramente (e vai despertar a revolta de muitos espectadores). Já como exercício cinematográfico, merece um pouco mais de atenção.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
01/20/03
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

What's so fun about this silly, outrageous, ingenious thriller is the director's talent. Watching a Brian DePalma movie is like watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie after drinking twelve beers.

Full Review Source: KFOR Channel 4 News | comment Comment
01/16/03
Blake Davis
Blake Davis
KFOR Channel 4 News

Emotionally and intellectually resonant.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
01/02/03
George Wu
George Wu
culturevulture.net

A lovely, unapologetic rendering of all the stuff that makes De Palma films tick -- and great stylish fun to boot.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
12/27/02
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

But in a disastrous third act, “Femme Fatale’s” more enjoyable moments are eviscerated by the film’s final surprise. One monstrous twist too many and De Palma seems to apologize for his earlier, edgier decisions.

Full Review Source: Zertinet Movies | comment Comment
12/12/02
Steven Snyder
Steven Snyder
Zertinet Movies

This is a return to form for De Palma.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Darrin Keene
Darrin Keene
Film Threat

Not-so-nifty camera tricks did little to mask a downright lame script and the plot twists were crushingly heavy handed and unoriginal.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Don R. Lewis
Don R. Lewis
Film Threat

There's no humour, no suspense, little drama, not much sex appeal and hardly any intrigue.

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
11/26/02
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
11/23/02
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

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

A movie as glossily silly -- and guiltily pleasurable -- as a waiting-room fashion magazine.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
11/19/02
Adam Nayman
Adam Nayman
eye WEEKLY
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
11/18/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

a tour de force of giddy-enthralling cinematic trashiness.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
11/18/02
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/15/02
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

I found myself capitulating to its inspired formalist madness -- something I've resisted in [De Palma's] films for the past 30-odd years.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
11/15/02
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Perhaps more than any film he's made up to this point, [it] is DePalma's most humanistic defense of his body of work, but only a director with his unique obsessions and talents could make a statement of humanism that’s so provocative, sexy, and exciting.

Full Review Source: MovieMartyr.com | comment Comment
11/14/02
Jeremy Heilman
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
11/14/02
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

This is SO De Palma. If you love him, you'll like it. If you don't...well, skip to another review.

Full Review Source: Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | comment Comment
11/13/02
Linda Cook
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

Fatale has some moments of brilliance. For some, these flashes of mastery will be enough.

Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
11/13/02
Marty Mapes
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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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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