Rather than let this get lost in a pre-existing thread, I'm posting it here.
Female Agents
By Bernard Besserglik
PARIS (Hollywood Reporter) - Jean-Paul Salome's "Female Agents" doesn't pretend to be much more than an old-fashioned action flick with a feminist slant.
Unashamedly targeting mainstream audiences, the movie boasts high production values and packs sufficient star power to appeal broadly in home and foreign markets.
"Agents" revolves around an all-woman commando unit that parachuted into occupied France in May 1944 to rescue a British agent captured while reconnoitering the terrain ahead of the Normandy landings. Resistance fighter Louise (Sophie Marceau) heads a team that includes feisty prostitute Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), good-time cabaret artiste Suzy (Marie Gillain) and nervous explosives expert Gaelle (Deborah Francois), patriots one and all.
Linking up with radio operator Maria (Maya Sansa), who's already in position, they get the job done in double-quick time. Then they are charged by their London controllers with a follow-up mission to kill Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), head of German military intelligence, who they fear might have correctly deduced the location of the pending Allied landings. Louise's brother Pierre (Julien Boisselier) is captured, as is Gaelle. The female agents launch an assassination attempt in a Metro station. It fails, and one of them is killed as a result.
There are torture scenes and seductions. Salome papers over the numerous gaps and implausibilities in the plot by keeping the action moving at breakneck speed, leaving little time for reflection. The hardest part of the film, according to Salome, was "making it as realistic as possible while providing plenty of glamour." Glamour clearly won out over realism; the spectator is left to wonder how the heroines remain so impeccably groomed and maintain such a well-stocked wardrobe while on the run in penury-ridden Paris.
That ought to endear it to the FLers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2212449920080322
Female Agents
By Bernard Besserglik
PARIS (Hollywood Reporter) - Jean-Paul Salome's "Female Agents" doesn't pretend to be much more than an old-fashioned action flick with a feminist slant.
Unashamedly targeting mainstream audiences, the movie boasts high production values and packs sufficient star power to appeal broadly in home and foreign markets.
"Agents" revolves around an all-woman commando unit that parachuted into occupied France in May 1944 to rescue a British agent captured while reconnoitering the terrain ahead of the Normandy landings. Resistance fighter Louise (Sophie Marceau) heads a team that includes feisty prostitute Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), good-time cabaret artiste Suzy (Marie Gillain) and nervous explosives expert Gaelle (Deborah Francois), patriots one and all.
Linking up with radio operator Maria (Maya Sansa), who's already in position, they get the job done in double-quick time. Then they are charged by their London controllers with a follow-up mission to kill Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), head of German military intelligence, who they fear might have correctly deduced the location of the pending Allied landings. Louise's brother Pierre (Julien Boisselier) is captured, as is Gaelle. The female agents launch an assassination attempt in a Metro station. It fails, and one of them is killed as a result.
There are torture scenes and seductions. Salome papers over the numerous gaps and implausibilities in the plot by keeping the action moving at breakneck speed, leaving little time for reflection. The hardest part of the film, according to Salome, was "making it as realistic as possible while providing plenty of glamour." Glamour clearly won out over realism; the spectator is left to wonder how the heroines remain so impeccably groomed and maintain such a well-stocked wardrobe while on the run in penury-ridden Paris.
That ought to endear it to the FLers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2212449920080322
