Barnes & Noble

Brian De Palma’s most overtly erotic thriller since Body Double is also his best directorial effort since Carlito’s Way, and it shows this provocative filmmaker in top form. De Palma’s Hitchcockian touches, once considered to be affectations, have become an integral part of his style, and they’re very much in evidence here. Former model Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, certainly not one of the screen’s great actresses, manages to dominate Femme Fatale by virtue of her unbridled carnality while also eliciting audience sympathy -- a difficult task, given the story, and one she accomplishes with surprising ease. She portrays Laure Ash, a seductive, self-confident thief who pulls off a $10 million diamond heist in Cannes and manages to get out of the country when she is mistaken for a young widow who’s on her way to New York to begin a new life. Laure has been involved with paparazzo Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas), who encounters the erstwhile thief seven years later as the trophy wife of a high-ranking American diplomat (Peter Coyote) and again insinuates himself into her life, with deadly consequences. It’s impossible to say more about De Palma’s intricate plot without giving away the many surprises it holds: Serpentine in nature, it slithers along for a time in one direction and then suddenly coils back on itself. His directorial bag of tricks includes the typical visual gimmicks, including agonizingly sluggish pans, lots of slow motion, show-offy camera angles, and breezy coincidence. But Romjin-Stamos carries the day with her sublimely seductive performance as the amoral, manipulative temptress. Icy and duplicitous, she is very much in the mold of the classic film noir anti-heroines, and with her as his muse De Palma is spurred to greater heights of Hitchcockian emulation. The DVD includes two featurettes: a "Dressed to Kill" montage, and a behind-the-scenes look at the film’s making. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Brian De Palma blends the emotional netherworld of film noir with a stylish portrayal of life among the wealthy and powerful in Paris in this glossy thriller. Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a beautiful but mysterious woman who has aligned herself with a small ring of jewel thieves, led by a man known as Black Tie (Eriq Ebouaney), who has planned a major score during the Cannes Film Festival. Sexy model Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) is scheduled to make a spectacular entrance for the screening of director Regis Wargnier's picture, wearing a body-hugging piece of jewelry worth a cool ten million dollars. Laure approaches the sexually adventurous Veronica and is able to seduce her, while at the same time stealing her diamond-studded outfit and replacing it with a carefully constructed counterfeit. Veronica, however, also makes off the loot without giving her partners their cut, and must go into hiding in order to avoid the wrath of Black Tie and his cohorts. Fate allows Laure to make her way to the United States, where in time she marries a powerful politician. Photographer Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas), however, had snapped a picture of Laure while she was on the lam years before, and when he takes an assignment to get a photo of the camera-shy woman, Laure realizes Nicolas is in a position to reveal her new identity to the world -- and put the bloodthirsty Black Tie back on her trail. Mark Deming

New York Times

Far more absorbing and tantalizing than most of the plodding, overworked thrillers the studios churn out these days. A.O. Scott

Los Angeles Times

The film has the high-buffed gloss and high-octane jolts you expect of De Palma, but what makes it transporting is that it's also one of the smartest, most pleasurable expressions of pure movie love to come from an American director in years. Manohla Dargis

Product Details

• UPC: 085392446124
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:54:00
• Sales Rank: 11,251

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