LA FEMME NIKITA
A film review by Mark Kosten
Copyright 1991 Mark Kosten
Director: Luc Besson Producer: Jerome Chalou Music by: Eric Serra Starring: Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, Jeanne Moreau A French-Italian co-production. 1990. French with English subtitles.
France's Luc Besson is well known for his films LE DERNIER COMBAT (THE LAST BATTLE), SUBWAY, and THE BIG BLUE, which are stylish and somewhat surreal. However, along with some other directors of similar stylish films, such as Ridley Scott, Kathryn Bigelow, David Lynch and Michael Mann, he sometimes has a problem with scripts that let down the images. There tends to be a lack of substance, which is illuminated by the contrast with the production values and attention to detail and imagery. Does this film close the gap?
Besson's wife, Anne Parillaud, plays a teenage street punk called Nikita, who is spaced out on drugs and in with a group that are equally spaced out and very violent. They break into a chemist [drugstore for Americans] and are surprised in the act of stealing drugs by the owner and the police. Basically everyone dies in a hail of bullets except Nikita, who is dragged off to jail. She is shown to be extremely violent and irrational, which gets her life imprisonment. The French secret service (who knows which group it is supposed to be, perhaps La Securite?) recruit her by staging her death then offering her either life as an assassin for France or a real death to fill the empty grave her family grieved over. You can guess which she takes.
The rest of the story revolves around her training, acceptance of her situation, and finally, after three years, release into the world as a government-sanctioned killer. She "comes out" as a smart, beautiful, deadly woman, who knows little of living in the real world. Nevertheless, with the aid of what has become her surrogate father (her boss in the secret service) and a man she eventually becomes engaged to, she slowly fills in the gaps of compassion, feeling and love. However, as she carries out her "hits," each mission gets more and more difficult, messy and violent.
Without wanting to spoil the story or ending, I must say the whole thing is a bit far-fetched in detail and the ending even more so. There is no real resolution, and the denouement, such as it is, is particularly weak. Indeed, the story is light on the Pygmalion-like personal changes Nikita goes through and her relationship with her boyfriend is rather unbelievable, although it is touching. The idea of her being an assassin has a curious veracity, and France has been shown to use women in hazardous missions -- witness the Rainbow Warrior bombing in New Zealand, so fortunately we are left only with a taste of silliness.
Besson uses some of his "mafia," such as electronic composer Eric Serra and actor Jean Reno as a "cleaner", a very black comedic role. They and the other cast and production people perform well, with not a step wrong. Technically Hollywood couldn't do better.
France has made some excellent thrillers over the years. DIVA comes to mind, made by Besson's compatriot Beineix, but let's not forget Clouzot's WAGES OF FEAR or LA BALANCE by America's expatriot Bob Swaim and many others. This film compares favourably, but is not quite intricate or involving enough to quite make it to the top few. Nevertheless, it stands out from much of the dross today, and I recommend a look, as you will at least enjoy the ride, if not the mulling over afterwards.
Mark Kosten, phone: +61 3 479-1500 Computer Centre, AARNet (internet): ccmk@lure.latrobe.edu.au La Trobe University, X.25 (PSI): 05052347300000::ccmk Bundoora, 3083 Australia
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