De Palma's Way

BRIAN DE PALMA SALUTES HIMSELF IN FEMME FATALE

Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film, Frenzy, arguably his nastiest piece of work, was less a satisfying narrative than a meditation on his life's work and attendant obsessions. The director's penultimate film, it has also served as an inspiration for Brian De Palma, most of whose filmography also consists of movies about Hitchcock movies. But after 25 pictures, he has finally made what may be his first movie about Brian De Palma movies, Femme Fatale, which wears its genre quotation marks proudly (why else open with a scene from Double Indemnity?).Rebecca Romijn-Stamos is the titular flytrap, Antonio Banderas the designated sap. Forgoing obvious hooks such as suspense and character development, Femme Fatale unspools like an almost abstract series of set pieces as the director indulges his taste for colonoscopy-like camera moves and high-gloss misogyny. Actresses as sleek as Thoroughbreds are tossed off bridges, hurled through plate glass, gob-smacked by trucks. The boys take their licks, too, and everyone can enjoy the voyeur-vision sex scenes—as spectacle, Femme Fatale is undeniably entertaining. But De Palma has fashioned a picture that is singularly, almost defiantly hollow. His most personal film to date? (Rating: ★★★)

BRUCE HANDY

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