Female Agents

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KLAXXON

Female Agents

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May 1944. A five-woman commando unit parachutes into occupied France on a daring and dangerous mission to protect the secret of the D-Day Landings and eliminate Hendrich, the head German counter-intelligence. Louise is a trained sniper and the widow of a Resistance leader. Jeanne is a touch hooker who won't hesitate to kill. Gaelle is a young and brilliant explosives expert desperate to see some action. Suzy is a stunning former showgirl and Heindrich's one-time lover. Maria is an Italian contessa undercover with the French Resistance. Female Agents is an action-packed tribute to the real-life espionage operatives whose exploits inspired the film.






World War II Resistance fighter Louise (Marceau) flees to London and joins Churchill’s Special Operations Executive. Her first mission is to rescue a Brit operative, but she must assemble a crack team of female spies to do so.





Despite the rubbish translation of the title from Les Femmes De l’Ombre (Shadow Women presumably sounding too puppety), this war thriller is anything but obvious. Inspired by the multi-decorated wartime agent Lise Villameur, Salomé’s beautifully-nuanced film focuses on the remarkable behaviour of women whose actions were often overlooked in favour of their male counterparts.

We follow sharp-shooter Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau), drafted into Churchill’s crack Special Operations Executive (SEO) after her husband’s death. Her first mission is to rescue a British D-Day operative from a Nazi hospital, by creating a female group along with her Resistance brother, Pierre (Julien Boisselier). Providing the mix of spying and social skills are Suzy (Marie Gillain), a showgirl who could seduce a toaster; Gaëlle (The Page Turner’s Déborah François), the science brains and devout Catholic; dynamic Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), a prostitute who killed her pimp; and Maria (Maya Sansa), a Jewish-Italian radio expert. Rather than being rescued after the mission, however, the SEO give them a new task: to eliminate Colonel Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), the head of Nazi counter-intelligence, who has managed to get too much information about D-Day.

The thrill is in the way Salomé presents his story. This is no rose-tinted period reinvention but an old-fashioned action film, with a grim determination running throughout. There’s no popcorn heroism or villainy: Bleibtreu’s Heinrich is a far cry from the Voldemortish rent-a-Teuton that typically passes for a cinematic Nazi, his humanity making him an even more disturbing character. Balanced people in war films aren’t supposed to be Nazis, but then again the Resistance aren’t supposed to succumb to weakness - as depicted here in a series of crunchingly uncomfortable scenes.

And these scenes are beautifully shot - watch out for the most iconic use of train steam this side of The Railway Children. From the claustrophobic nightmares of inquisition to an underground scene that’s balletically coordinated, Salomé’s war is always graceful but never black-and-white.



A war thriller in classic style, with superb central performances which help Female Agents rise above the awful title and keep you hooked from start to gripping finish.













Sophie Marceau ...  Louise Desfontaines
Julie Depardieu ...  Jeanne Faussier
Marie Gillain ...  Suzy Desprez
Déborah François ...  Gaëlle Lemenech
Moritz Bleibtreu ...  SS Colonel Heindrich
Maya Sansa ...  Maria Luzzato
Julien Boisselier ...  Pierre Desfontaines
Vincent Rottiers ...  Eddy
Volker Bruch ...  Lieutenant Becker
Robin Renucci ...  Melchior
Xavier Beauvois ...  Charles Granville
Colin David Reese ...  Colonel Maurice Buckmaster
Jurgen Mash ...  Gerd Von Rundstedt
Conrad Cecil ...  Le géologue anglais
Alexandre Jazede ...  René Bourienne





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Xpara

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Female Agents was a great Film and based on a True Story.. well worth a watch.
samspa

Re: Female Agents

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In reply to this post by KLAXXON
Thank You
sachu

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Good movie. worth watching....