There are movies which are bad but then you know from start that everyone from unit men to actors knew it from start that his movie is gonna sux. Think Jaani Dushman and you would know, atleast they raise a few unintentional laughs. Then there are movies which are so hopelessely bad and yet everyone takes their part so seriously that the overwhelming feeling of nausea pervades an entire screening. To call Femme Fatale a bad movie would be so much of an injustice. To the word bad that is. It is so grossly horrible that if it were not for complete lunacy on screen, you would have pucca thrown up on the screen.
First of all the movie has all the wrong ideas to take care of. Then it is too long, editing is confusing - it ranges from fast cuts to leisurely strolls in the documentary style shooting of a thing from all possible angles. Second, the acting is horrific, from the lead actress to Antonio, all act like dumb parrots, shooting of dialogues like they were rot for fear of exams. The camera work, experimental alright, gives the movie the confused look which when added to a confused screenplay (which goes from ridiculous at best times to absurd at others) gives you a thoroughly confused film where no one really knows what is going on. To add to your misery the film has a distinct style - the one which makes it look highly intelligent and art house and hence, you almost feel sorry for your own intelligence that why on earth dont you like this movie? It is only much later that you realize that the movie is crap from start to finish and only thing it has is lots of nothing, more nothing and still more nothing.
The story - ah well! Imagine you are a beautiful girl in France and at Cannes you go and seduce the model who wore only jewellery and no clothes and have a raunchy sex scene with her and then skim off the jewellery. You obviously forget your partners in crime and end up in a house running from them. Now here comes the twist, the lady in house is exact copy of yours ( judwa behen anyone). And she wants to shoot herself since her beau is no longer there. So you go to U.S. in place of your judwa behen and marry a diplomat who in due course of time becomes the ambassador of France. So now you are Ambassadors wife and hence, everyone is after you (meanz the paparazzi) and one captures you on frame and guess who is he? Antonio Banderas. So you are all over the papers and for some reason the walls. So your ex partners in crime come back to haunt you and you go back to your own bad ways seducing young photographer with lines like ’’You dont need to lick my ass, just f*ck me straight.’’ Wow! Wait the director has one trick still left. All this never happened and you choose your destiny different. The judwa behen does not kill herself and she is the one who goes to US and somehow turn of events lead to your partners in crime being killed and your lesbian friend is the property of Antonio. Confused? Well I dont blame you.
Some of the background music intentionally added up to a sense of aura of intellectual stupidity in the movie. The director Brian De Palma has given such shockers like ’’Dressed to Kill’’ and ’’Body Double’’. But atleast those had a decent story line. Here the story is as split as the screens the movie uses for image display. Acting as I said is pathetic and only thing that keeps the film going is obsession of each technical artist involved which results in a crazy display of unrelated unhatched orgy on screen. The film goes on and on in a music video fashion where nothing relates and unless you are a fan of hollow stuff packaged as spiritual excellence, dont venture anywhere near this movie. This is not just a bad movie, it also mocks at audiences intelligence in discerning the same. Were it not for some innovation, it deserves 0 rating. The movie is prime example of over obsession and how it can ruin everything.