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2008
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FEMALE
AGENTS
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STARRING:SOPHIE
MARCEAU,JULIE DEPARDIEU,MARIE GILLAIN,DEBORAH FRANCOIS,MORITZ
BLEIBTREU,MAYA SANSA,JULIEN BOISSELIER, VINCENT ROTTIERS,VOLKER
BRUCH
SCREENPLAY
BY JEAN-PAUL SALOME & LAURENT VACHAUD
PRODUCED
BY ERIC NEVE
DIRECTED
BY JEAN-PAUL SALOME
GENRE:DRAMA/HISTORY/WAR
RATED:AUSTRALIA:NA/UK:15/USA:NA
RUNNING
TIME:120 MIN
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Loosely
based on true events (the life of French female resistance fighter
Lise Villamer was a key inspiration), Jean-Paul Salome's Female
Agents is a thrilling WWII movie with a unique slant, as this
time the fighting women of the influential and bloody war are thrust
into the spotlight, hence its title.
Said women are 5 various souls recruited by Winston Churchill's SOE
(Special Operative Executive): Louise (Sophie Marceau), a trained
sniper who has grown cynical through her bitter experience as a resistance
fighter; Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), an ex-prostitute who is coerced
into joining the group or face the hangman's noose for killing her
pimp; Gaelle (Deborah Francois), a bomb maker and devout Catholic
naïve to the horrors of war; Suze (Marie Gillain), a former showgirl
who is blackmailed into joining the mission; and Maria (Mary Sansa),
and Italian Jew working with the French resistance.
Together they must rescue a British geologist -who was caught by the
Nazi's on the beaches of Normandy- before the tenacious SS counter
intelligence Officer Colonel Heinrich (Moritz Bleibtreu) gets to him
first and learns of the approaching D-Day invasion by allied forces.
During its inception Female Agents fails to dazzle as it ponders
through a dreary recruitment sequence. However, after its characters
and plot are set, the film finally hits its pace and in turn becomes
an exciting watch spurned on by key character development, well paced
suspense and superbly staged action sequences.
This is not so much a standard war film, but rather a tight espionage
thriller which speaks volumes about the brutal nature of war and the
violence, treachery and torture that is apart of it.
The film's various female personalities are a well developed and acted
bunch, and the heroic actions - along with their motives - which they
exhibit are grounded in reality and not sugar coated as if it were
a French Charlie Angel's film.
Sophie Marceau provides the formidable presence needed for her role
as the group's leader, and the grace filled Deborah Francois is brilliant
in her sympathetic portrayal as the innocent recruit who must ditch
her devout religious beliefs in order to "survive" capture.
She -along with her fellow fighters - must contend with the consequences
of their profession (namely torture, murder and/or suicide). This
can make some parts of Female Agents an uncomfortable
experience, especially so if the sight of the female form succumbed
to humiliation and savagery makes you squeamish, as it did with me.
However, the decision by Salome to show - and imply to - such atrocities
enhances not only the films realistic setting, but also the sacrifices
made by the brave women of not only WWII but of all wars.
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