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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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41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Whatever else it is or isn't, Femme Fatale is pure filmmaking of a kind we don't see much of these days. It's vintage De Palma and I, at least, am glad to have him back in form.

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
11/12/02
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Brian De Palma keeps the possibilities of the plot flailing throughout; but as his jagged puzzle pieces fail to align over the course of progression, his neutrality and failure to commit to a definitive stream of thought leads to his cop out.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
11/12/02
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

Stripping film art down to its most purely visual roots, Brian De Palma's almost silent thriller is a stylish exploration of movies (and dreams) as our efforts to fabricate reality.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
11/12/02
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

...De Palma takes great care in not revealing too much too soon.

Full Review Source: Talking Pictures (U.S.) | comment Comment
11/11/02
Tony Toscano
Tony Toscano
Talking Pictures (U.S.)

I think it should be called "Film Fatale" since the movie nearly bored me to death.

Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
11/11/02
Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
3BlackChicks Review

A wonderful ride.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
11/11/02
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper

the film opens with a clip from 'Double Indemnity'... Clearly, DePalma is positioning Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as a modern-day Barbara Stanwyck; perhaps in his next movie, he'll try to sell us Christina Aguilera as the new Doris Day.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
11/10/02
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

an exercise in cinematic excess whose faults almost add to its charms

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
11/10/02
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

...spellbinding fun and deliciously exploitative.

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

Vertigo at the heart of Femme Fatale. Only in this case the woman is remaking herself.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
11/10/02
D.K. Holm
D.K. Holm
DVDTalk.com

De Palma's new thriller almost ends up as a parody -- largely because of a miscast female lead.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/10/02
Betty Jo Tucker
Betty Jo Tucker
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
11/10/02
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News

Preposterous, labyrinthine, and aesthetically superb.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
11/09/02
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

It's hard to imagine that a movie starring the leggy Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as its Femme Fatale could be boring.

Full Review Source: Sun Newspapers of Cleveland | comment Comment
11/09/02
Gerry Shamray
Gerry Shamray
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
N/R

Bait and Switch

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
11/09/02
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Nitrate Online
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
11/09/02
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
11/09/02
Orlando Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

De Palma has provided enough ripe flesh, split-screen mayhem, and dreamlike imagery to power six films noir.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
11/09/02
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

Like an elaborate game, cleverly assembled and played, but leaving very little impression when it's over.

Full Review Source: Journal News (Westchester, NY) | comment Comment
11/09/02
Marshall Fine
Marshall Fine
Journal News (Westchester, NY)
 
 
41 - 60 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

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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