Back in the early 80s there was a marginally popular song by rock singer Benny Mardones, a very dramatic song (as all songs sung by Benny Mardones are) called “She’s so French.” Great song.
The 1990 action film, “La Femme Nikita” directed by Luc Besson is a lot like the song. It’s French. It’s dramatic. And it’s great.
But it is not without warts. In other words it’s got some really silly–bordering on stupid–stuff in it. Need I reiterate?
Now before anybody gets bent out of shape, it’s just an opinion, a matter of taste and–dare I say–a clash in culture in the way that pink goes with red. Some people like the combination. Others do not.
Anne Parillaud plays Nikita. According to the script, Nikita is a nineteen year old junkie with cyberpunk sensibilities. According to our eyes, the script is lying.
That’s not Parillaud’s fault, necessarily: She was thirty when she played Nikita and she’s too much woman to play it that small. We don’t, for instance, believe that she would wear that top, with those shorts, with those boots.
Neither do we believe that she would wear her hair that way, or that she wouldn’t brush her teeth, or that she would break out in a vaudevillian folk dance in the middle of kicking ass, anarchist heroin junkie or not.
Nonetheless, there she is being drug along–literally–to what turns out to be a botched robbery. Her compatriots are ambushed by the police and shot to pieces.
Nikita survives because she’s in a jones induced world of her own. That, and she’s crouched in a cubbyhole wearing headphones.
When a rather handsome cop finds her and sympathetically removes her earphones, she rewards him by putting her 38 automatic under his chin and blowing his brains out. As you can imagine, that doesn’t go over too well with the rest of the cops.
In fact, the whole law enforcement community brings the hammer down on Nikita. Hard. She gets life with no chance of parole until she serves thirty years.
(Here, in the southern portion of the United States, she would have got the death penalty.)
Nikita is incorrigible. The girl is cur mean; she bites off fingers and stabs through her handler’s hand with an especially sharp pencil.
What’s more, she screams a lot. Her scream is annoying.
Accordingly, things go from bad to horrible, to considerably worse than that, when Nikita finds herself in some kind of prison/dungeon/hospital room with the most affectless team of health care professionals ever assembled.
A doctor seemingly prepares a syringe of poison and plunges the needle into Nikita. She cries for her mother.
We believe her. It is sad.
But a shadowy government subset has other plans for Nikita. Unbeknownst to her, she has been tagged as a prospect for a clandestine, extremely exclusive, squadron of assassins. As such she serves at the pleasure of an elderly, law and order type who hates her guts. We are immediately aware that Nikita has a very short expiration date.
Of course we know this before she does, but she finds out soon enough. Nikita is nothing less than survivor. Therefore, she must learn to make nice.
(She has the killing stuff down pat, but she still practices.)
Now as we become voyeurs to her “new” life, we also become investors into director Besson’s vision. We are amused as his muse learns to mind her manners. We approve as she bends her will to fashion. We worry when she goes on suicide mission with a gun that is bigger than she is and when she finds the window she is supposed to escape through inexplicably bricked in.
Nikita achieves her transformation with the help of a matriarchal tutor, the great femme fatale Jeanne Moreau, as Amanda, who has survived a very long time in the squadron to which Nikita belongs.
Oh, and did I mention romance? There is some.
So it is here, about halfway through, where Besson’s film really takes off, where it flatteringly grows into its Irma la Douce form even as it keeps its riot girrrl figure.
And fittingly, this is where La Femme Nikita earns its stature as the prototype. It has never been done better, though–predictably–Hollywood continues to try.
One of the best ever, and would have a place in my top twenty for sure. The US remake was laughable at best, as was the lamentable TV series based on the original concept.
Stylish, cool, and full of pace, the gorgeous lead actress is the icing on the cake.
One we definitely agree on, Pam.
Great review.
Best wishes, Pete.
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It really is a fantastic film. I didn’t hate The Point of No Return, though. I actually thought it was pretty good, but I’d never write about it. Thanks for reading, Pete.
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Is that what they called the remake over there? I didn’t know that. I think it was called The Assassin here.
I just checked, it was.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Assassin-DVD-Bridget-Fonda/dp/B00004CXI9
I didn’t like it one bit! 🙂
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Great review and I think Beeson himself has been chasing his own tail in trying to recreate “Nikita” with mixed results. While I agree that the Bridget Fonda version was a mess,I did finding Maggie Q’s version a lot of fun even though it plays more “Alias” then the original “Nikta”.
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I’ve seen Nikita, The Fifth Element, Lucy and Leon: The Professional. I enjoyed them all with the exception of The Fifth Element. As for Nikita inspired films, I’ve heard his Anna is quite good. I enjoyed The Point of No Return with Bridgette Fonda, though I am aware that it is substantially less than.Likewise I liked Salt and Hannah too.
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Playing with the doll.
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I haven’t seen it. It sounds like a film you’d love or hate. There’s enough in your review to make me curious and I want to see it. Nice review, Pam.
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Thanks Cindy. If you like stylistic action and violence, this is the precursor for those films.
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One of our favorites in the ’90s. Of course partly because hubby liked the girl. 🙂
But it was fun watching her get into those shadowy situations and try to use her newly acquired training and learning as she went….
I was never great at learning on the fly. I would have been dead during the first mission.
Also not too impressed with Fonda’s version. They filmed it in a house on the beach that we always walked past on the promenade. The house has been empty since then and used a lot for other movies…….
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Interesting. As I recall, it was a beautiful house. A famed architect, no doubt.
So far, I’m the only one who defends Fonda’s version. I remember reading that Tarantino defended the remake of Breathless…the Richard Gere version. Well, I saw that movie. I had a big crush on Richard Gere back in those American Gigolo days. I liked the remake…until I saw the original. Then I ceased and desisted. Immediately.
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Haha. That’s often what happens, I think. But I don’t blame you. Gere back in the day… *sigh*. He aged well, too. 🙂
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Indeed.
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Great review 🙂 It most certainly has a sense of cool and I loved Anne Parrilaud in this. La Femme Nikita is very good I will say. Undoubtedly, it is superior to the 1993 American remake Point of No Return. Did you ever see Leon the Professional also directed by Luc Besson? Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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Yes. I am among the legions of fans that love Leon the Professional. Like with La Femme Nikita, it has a distinctly strong flavor that overwhelms it at times; even so, it’s highly entertaining.
I agree, Anne Parrilaud is very good in Nikita. I think her performance could have been iconic with…how shall I put this?…more restrained and thoughtful direction. Besson is marvelous with action seqences, stylistic imprint and pace, but he falls a little flat when it comes to depth of characterization. That’s why Jeanne Moreau’s performance was, to me, a highlight of the film. She did so much with so little. We understand her character, Amande, to the extent that we yearn to know more about her. You can tell that Besson gave her more free reign and, boy, does she deliver.
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Big chuckles. “We don’t, for instance, believe that she would wear that top, with those shorts, with those boots”
“her scream is annoying” LOL
Long time, probably near the 30 years from when it came out I saw this. Wonderfully French! I remember it being very good. Most Luc Besson films were. Awesome double bill with Leon.
Did you see the remake? It was called The Assassin over here but it’s called Point of No Return with Bridget Fonda in the role. I kind of recall it being better than expected.! Kinda feel a need to re-watch both 🙂
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PS sorry just scanned the comments and everything I wrote has been said already. No need to reply hehe.
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Yes, I’ve seen Point of No Return and liked it quite a lot. Most people don’t. Some despise it. It’s not as good as the orginal, but it doesn’t deserve such ridicule. Good grief…Loved Leon too. Thanks for reading Mikey.
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