Nominated for nine Cesar awards (the French equivalent of the Oscar), Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita breathes new life into the spy thriller genre with its unique approach. Anne Parillaud won a well-deserved Best Actress award for her moving performance of Nikita, a street junkie turned government assassin. Although compared to The Terminator and the James Bond films, La Femme Nikita differs from these action slugfests in one major respect: Nikita is neither a machine nor an idealized human; she's a frighteningly believable product of modern culture. Arrested for shooting a policeman, Nikita is whisked away to a high level training center where she is given the choice to die or become a hitperson. When her initial attempts at rebellion fail, she resigns herself to the program and begins the arduous process of redesigning her personality--at least on the outside. In one of the most powerful scenes in the film, Nikita is told to learn how to smile: watching herself in the mirror she struggles to create a gesture which is totally foreign to her life to date--a simple smile. While setting herself up in a new apartment for a future assassination, Nikita meets Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade), and falls in love for the first time in her life. Trying to juggle her undercover "work" and her love life, Nikita discovers new emotions, feelings which will ultimately affect her abilities as a "killing machine." Occasionally verging on the preposterous in terms of plot, the heart of the film is Parillaud's stellar and complicated performance: part child, part woman, part amoral killer, part sensitive lover, Nikita breaks the mold of spy/assassin stereotypes. Spies don't cry, but Nikita does--not because she's a woman, but because she's a real human being. Highly recommended. [Note: Unfortunately we were sent the "dubbed" version for review, a characteristically bad job which nearly wrecks the powerful atmosphere of the film. Be sure to request the subtitled version.][Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Sony, 117 min., in French w/English subtitles, R, $34.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1990's La Femme Nikita features a fine transfer and a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are limited to trailers and the BD Live function. Bottom line: although it's unfortunate that the bonus material from the “special edition” standard DVD was not ported over for the Blu-ray release, this excellent thriller has never looked better.]
La Femme Nikita
color. 117 min. In French w/English subtitles or dubbed. Vidmark Entertainment. (1990). $89.95. Rated: R Library Journal
La Femme Nikita
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