Review of Femme Fatale (2002) by Brian R — 20 Nov 2011

Excellent film noir by DePalma I think it's his best film since Scarface.

In the film, Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn) participates in a diamond heist in Cannes, double-crosses her accomplices and escapes to Paris, where she stumbles across her own doppelgänger (also portrayed by Romijn) who commits suicide, leaving Laure the opportunity to take her identity and leave the country.

Seven years later, Laure (now called Lily Watts) re-surfaces in Paris as the wife of the new American ambassador to France (Peter Coyote). At this point Spanish photographer Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas) takes her picture, prompting Laure to manipulate Bardo in order to conceal her former identity and evade her ex-accomplices who are still after the stolen diamonds. A twist near the end accentuates the artificial nature of the story and brings many familiar motifs of De Palma's into play.

DePalma uses stylish camera angles, steadicam shots, and effective editing, and a nice score. Excellent.