Returning
to that Hitchcockian/film-noir genre he knows too well, maverick director Brian
De Palma refuels after helming 2000’s big-budget sci-fi drama, Mission to
Mars, and delivers one of his most abstract thrillers to date. With its
bouncy narrative and hazy character motives, Femme Fatale takes time
adjusting to; like anything that doesn’t immediately follow mainstream
procedure. But once understanding what direction the film is headed towards,
this sexually-fueled playpen of mistaken identities, infatuations, and
double-crosses becomes one of the year’s guiltiest of pleasures.
Femme
Fatale
features such a decadent opening sequence, it had to be set during the Cannes
film festival. Beginning with a clip from Billy Wilder’s noir classic, Double
Indemnity (playing with French subtitles on the bottom of the screen), the
camera slowly creeps back to reveal a semi-naked woman watching the film from
inside her luxurious hotel room. It’s a great flick to watch before pulling a
jewel heist, and Barbara Stanwyck’s Mrs. Dietrichson is a great character for
a cold-hearted vixen to emulate.
The
mysterious woman is Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos), a professional thief
preparing to steal a valuable snake-shaped bracelet that holds over fifty
diamonds. Disguised as a press photographer, Laure plans on snatching the
diamonds by seducing its female owner, who is attending the Cannes premiere of Regis
Wargnier's East-West. As in most De Palma films, there
is an elaborate set-up with multiple actions going on simultaneously. The male
audience, however, will mostly focus on the intimate sequence between Stamos and
Victoria’s Secret model Rie Rasmussen, who frisk each other in the theatre’s
bathroom.
De
Palma’s fresh screenplay, set entirely in Paris, has a lot of fun toying with
different genres; dipping into everything from erotic-thrillers to mystery,
leaving the audience wondering what direction the film is headed towards…which
is usually unknown. Femme Fatale is not realistic in the least. It is as
dreamy and campy as Mullholand Drive, with people murdered in public and
twists occurring at random. But like David Lynch’s Hollywood nightmare, De
Palma’s latest is livelier than most modern films.
Fatale’s most intriguing factor might be the erotically charged performance by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Her lanky temptress, who seduces with tangy lap-dances as easily as she fires pistols, is a role the ex-supermodel plays with an unexpected assurance. As lead, Stamos carries the film by demanding our attention; and she succeeds in capturing it not through strutting her rail-thin body, but by being in command of the story almost as much as De Palma is. -Shaun Sages
GRADE: B+
-Copyright
2002 by Shaun Sages