Julien is a successful businessman with a wife, kid and nice house. On the way to work each day he notices a beautiful woman sat outside the cafe opposite his workplace. He gazes at her from his office window. After several days he approaches her and they start to chat and end up going on a date. She seems pleasant enough, a bit wild, but it becomes increasingly apparent that she is vindictive and has emotional baggage. Julien eventually has to tell his wife about his brief fling and after this the situation becomes more complex, with the femme fatale becoming more threatening and even getting herself beaten up and blaming it on Julien to his boss. It is a stylish and gripping film along the lines of Fatal Attraction, with good performances from the leads and a surprise ending.
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Afracious7 January 2000
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For a French film this is more mainstream than the offbeat, edgy title suggests. If you are expecting a clever, Charbrolesque thriller - be very disappointed.Conversely, this is a would-be Hitchcock thriller that feels more like Brian De Palma's worse efforts. The protagonist, seduced and tormented by the femme fatale, is very unlikeable and it is therefore difficult to summon any interest in his plight, given his flaws and bad taste in women! At times, the film has a late-night cable ambiance which seems odd considering its pretensions as a Hitchcockian thriller. Sadly, this film was a missed opportunity - a futile attempt to make mainstream French thrillers to French audiences who already are familiar with this genre.
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dromasca25 August 2002A short investigation in the IMDb shows that this was the last film of director and writer Christopher Frank, who died before the filmed was released. I do not remember having seen anything by him before, but judging after this film the cinematic loss is especially of a remarkable script writer.
The story is of a business man (married plus one), who starts flirting and having a non satisfying affaire with a beautiful woman he meets out of his office. It turns quickly in a blackmail and murder story, reminding Hitchcok's movies. The problem is that the directing is also from Hitchcok's period minus the genius of the suspense master. Good acting and especially the well written story line keeps the viewer awake, but the movie is still much less then it could be.
With the trend of French film scripts being bought by US studios and re-made in big Hollywood flicks, I would not be amazed that the same happens with this well-written story. In this case the US version has good chances to be a better film than the French original... I can already see Richard Gere, Nicole Kidman, and Denise Richards as the stars of the remake ;-) Anybody in Hollywood reading IMDb? -
LadyMargaret20 June 2010I enjoyed this movie, but I found it difficult to respect and identify with the protagonist. Without going into spoilers, the audience is asked to suspend belief for the sake of finding out the reason for Angela's attraction to Julien and why Julien would continue to encourage contact with Angela.
Many elements of Angela's character are a composite of past femme fatales so it doesn't take long for anyone who enjoys watching film noir movies to suss out the ending after the knock out scene. I was left with the question of "Is she or isn't she?" and I had my suspicion as to which answer would be correct, and watched the rest of the movie to see if the movie would unfold to support my suspicion.
There's nothing new in this movie that I haven't seen in past movies for plot development and resolution, but it kept the answers from revealing themselves long enough to make the movie a interesting viewing of a foreign film noir. -
jamesmsp16 July 2002Don't get me wrong, this film is not spectacular or awe-inspiring or inspirational in any way. BUT despite the barrier of a foreign language it manages to entertain and entertain well. The suspense is kept up throughout the film by a combination of exceptional acting and a slightly overdone score. The main problem is that this story is not exactly original... still an enjoyable film however