Femme Fatale Review

Con artist and thief Laure Ash makes off with her partners' share of a diamond heist, assumes a new identity and goes straight. But when she is spotted years later, she is forced to resort to her old ways to keep her new life intact.

by Ian Johnston |

Published on1st January 2000 at 9.00am

Release Date:

01 Jan 2002

Running Time:

0 minutes

Certificate:

Original Title:

Femme Fatale

Despite its straight-to-video status, fans will note this comparatively low-budget Euro picture marked a return to form for Brian De Palma.

Beautiful jewel thief Rebecca Romijn-Stamos thinks of starting a new life with the US Ambassador to France (Peter Coyote), but a photo taken by former paparazzo Antonio Banderas threatens to expose her.

Using split screen, bizarre narrative twists and Ryuichi Sakamoto's great, Ravel-inspired score, De Palma gleefully turns the conventions of the dream-like neo-noir thriller on their head, while focusing upon his perennial themes of identity and perception.

Better than you'd expect from the predictable set-up, this is gorgeously shot and nicely noir.

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