Femme Fatale

Plot synopsis:
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.
In an extended twist ending, the entirety of the movie's events after Laure enters the tub in Lily's home are revealed to be a dream. Laure spies Lily entering the home as before, but this time stops her from committing suicide. Seven years later, Laure and Veronica, who is revealed to have been Laure's partner all along, chat about the success of their diamond caper. Black Tie and Racine arrive seeking revenge, but they are killed by the same truck that killed Veronica in Laure's dream. Bardo, witnessing all these events, introduces himself to Laure, swearing that he has met her before, with Laure replying "Only in my dreams."

Tags: neo noir

Review:
Awful script ruins a clever idea.
As I sat in front of the TV watching this movie, I thought, "Oh, what Alfred Hitchcock, or even Brian DePalma, could have done with this!"  Chances are, you will too.
It does start out intrigueing.
A British park ranger living in Los Angeles (Collin Firth) marries a pretty, demure brunette woman (Lisa Zane) whom he met in a park only a short time ago.
Then, one day she dissappears.
The police are unable to find any documentation that she ever existed, and Firth conducts his own search.
So far, so good.
Just as he's about to give up, he turns to his womanizing best friend (Billy Zane), and they stumble onto her former life in L.A.'s sordid underground of drugs, nightclubs, and ametuer filmmaking, and then to her history of mental instability.
At that point, Firth's life is in danger, and the film falls apart.
None of the characters from Lisa Zane's past are remotely interesting.
The film moves slowly, and there's very little action.
There is a subplot regarding missing drug money, but it's just a throwaway.
No chases, no cliffhanging sequences, and no suspense.
Just some dull beatings and a lot of chat by boring characters.
One thing worth noting, Lisa Zane and Billy Zane are brother and sister, but they never appear in a scene together.
By the end of the movie, you're torn between wondering what might have been and trying to stay awake..
Looney lady leaves unlucky lover in lurch.
The bud of love bloomed when boy met girl.
A whirlwind romance and quickie nuptials are displayed in a series of flashbacks after a mysterious woman [read: crazy] leaves her hubby during the honeymoon.
He goes bonkers and spends his days tracing his disappeared darling.
This leads him into a web of S&M film makers, lunatic drug dealers, and a very large surprise concerning his wonderful wife.
Run of the mill thriller which seems to bog down more than cause one to quiver with emotional excitement..
Great premise is poorly executed.
It's interesting at first.
A naive park ranger (Colin Firth) marries a pretty, mysterious woman (Lisa Zane) he's only known for a short time.
They seem to be happy, then she disappears without warning.
He searches for her and, after a few dead ends, stumbles upon some of her abused childhood and sleazy recent past, which may include criminal activity.
And then, it seems the filmmakers didn't know what to do with the story.
The beginning, while not as suspenseful as it sounds, is at least watchable.
Then it ceases to be interesting or even make much sense.
And the ending is so lame, so dull, and so devoid of any excitement or intelligence, you'll think the screenwriters didn't know what to do with it and got bored trying.
What a sorry waste of a good idea!.
If you enjoy seeing Colin Firth in a lead role, you will enjoy this flick....
If you are a tried-and-true fan of Colin Firth, you will enjoy this movie as he is in every frame...who wouldn't want to watch Colin Firth fall in love...Made in 1991, it shows how much Colin has grown in his acting skills since this movie...Lisa Zane is believable in her role, and Billy Zane is there...not much more to say about him...the script lacks depth and credibility...i rate this movie a C..
a very useless movie.
I accidentally stumbled upon this 'movie' while zapping over my 60 dutch channels.
Well, because it was very late and there wasn't anything else on, I continued to watch this low-budget picture.
I like to torture myself from time to time.
Colin Firth is a dumb newlywed whose bride runs away on their honeymoon.
So, guess what, he starts to look for her.
But his wife is a loony.
Lisa Zane doesn't play her character with any mystery.
You only get irritated by her.
Oh yes, her brother Billy plays Firth's best friend and what an acting achievement that was.
I urge you to go to dentist rather than to see this movie.
Lisa Zane can't save it with her looks alone..
One word .......
awful !.
Don't even think of being tempted to watch this because of the intriguing premise of a disappeared bride.
This is no "Breakdown" or "The Vanishing".
What it is, is a total waste of time.
Beyond the initial idea, the script seemed made up as it went along.
The characters are unlikable, the premise preposterous, and the entire movie is pointless.
This is like trying to make sense out of a jigsaw puzzle with quite a few missing pieces.
Unfortunately I stayed with it, hoping to find at least one redeeming quality that would justify my patience.
None could be found, and you have been warned not to make the same mistake.
- MERK.
A must see for Firth fans...
Granted I'm a Colin Firth fan but I really enjoyed this movie.
It has an interesting plot with unsuspecting twists and turns that keep the viewer focused until the end.
Even the reviewer that said it was bad watched it all the way through..
Colin fans only.....
This movie is intriguing only because Colin Firth is in it.
It is one of his earlier films so he still has a baby fat face, but he also has that charming accent...so, not a total waste of time.
He is the only reason I stuck it out.Movie has thin plot that probably could have been a good, had the characters not been so superficial.
Colin has all his usual passion, but seems out of place with the surrounding "ghosts" pretending to be actors.
Really was let down by extent of the emptiness of the acting.
The plot was too easy...first there are really bad men, then the bad men don't want to be bothered with the physicality's of killing someone.
So they leave...what's with that?
They are hit men without bullets, basically.And I am so used to seeing Billy Zane as a really bad man that he seemed secondary if not less.
Kinda spacey, and not really in the part of the film that he would have been best at, the supposed brutal sub-ending.
I say sub-ending because the ending-ending was even more disappointing....turned into some warped fairy tale.All in all, waste of time and space.
Sorry Colin.