Femme Fatale (2002 film)
| Femme Fatale | |
|---|---|
French release poster
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| Directed by | Brian De Palma |
| Produced by |
Tarak Ben Ammar Marina Gefter |
| Written by | Brian De Palma |
| Starring |
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos Antonio Banderas Peter Coyote |
| Music by | Ryuichi Sakamoto |
| Cinematography | Thierry Arbogast |
| Edited by | Bill Pankow |
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Production
company |
Epsilon Motion Pictures
Quinta Communications |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | English French |
| Budget | $35 million |
| Box office | $16.8 million |
Femme Fatale is a 2002 French erotic thriller/mystery film directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars Rebecca Romijn and Antonio Banderas. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
Mercenary thief Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn) participates in a diamond heist in Cannes. The plan is for Laure to steal valuable diamonds from the ensemble of a female attendant named Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) while in the middle of seducing her, during which her accomplices "Black Tie" (Eriq Ebouaney) and Racine (Édouard Montrouge) provide various support. However, Laure instead double-crosses her accomplices and escapes to Paris with the diamonds. In Paris, a series of events causes Laure to be mistaken for her own doppelgänger, a missing Parisian woman named "Lily" (also portrayed by Romijn) who had recently disappeared. While Laure luxuriates in a tub in Lily's home, the real Lily returns and commits suicide while Laure secretly watches, providing Laure the opportunity to take her identity for good, and she leaves the country for America.
Seven years later, Laure (in her identity as "Lily") resurfaces in Paris as the wife of Bruce Watts, the new American ambassador to France (Peter Coyote). After arriving in France, a Spanish paparazzo named Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) takes her picture. The picture is displayed around Paris, and Black Tie (who has coincidentally been released from prison seven years after being arrested for the heist) spots Bardo's photo while in the middle of killing a woman, seen talking earlier with Laure at a café, by throwing her into the path of a speeding truck. With Laure exposed to her vengeful ex-accomplices, she decides to frame Bardo for her own (staged) kidnapping. Bardo is further manipulated by Laure into following through with the "kidnapping," and in the process, they begin a sexual relationship. The pair eventually meet with Bruce for a ransom exchange; however, Bardo has a crisis of conscience at the last moment and sabotages the scheme. In retaliation, Laure executes both Bruce and Bardo, only to be surprised by her ex-accomplices afterwards who promptly throw her off a bridge to her seeming death.
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