10 Femmes Fatales Who Would Tramp All Over Your Heart
From silent cinema, to film noirs, sci-fi's, thrillers, horrors and more. No genre is safe from the femme fatale.
The history of errant women has been a mainstay of cinema from its earliest days. There was Theda Bara as the mysterious intoxicating temptress who led men to their ruin in A Fool There Was. However, femmes fatales really came into their own as double crossing dames in the 1940s, when the genre of film noir was in ascendancy. Audiences were scandalised by these cold hearted, sometimes murderous women and entranced as they watched big star names such as Barbara Stanwyck (in Double Indemnity) misbehave abominably. The archetype of the femme fatale is still very much used in cinema in modern times for it is an archetype that will always fascinate the film fan's imagination. Exploring female bad behaviour is an endlessly interesting and entertaining topic for film makers to tackle. What is particularly captivating about femme fatale films is the extent to which they receive their comeuppance or get away with their crimes. Please list your own favourite femmes fatales after reading below.