A box office flop and a critical failure upon first release, Femme Fatale saw erotic thriller maestro Brian De Palma returning to one of his favourite genres in a movie that continues in the tradition of his earlier works like Body Double and Dressed To Kill. The biggest problem with Femme Fatale is that clings to a truly ridiculous plot, and to enjoy the movie you have to learn to just accept it early on: a thief named Laure (played by Rebecca Romijn) conspires to steal a bra made of diamonds (seriously, that's the plot), as a photographer played by Antonio Banderas becomes increasingly obsessed with her. De Palma knew what he was creating with this homage of a movie, but audiences plainly didn't (though Roger Ebert was one of few critics to like the film; he gave it full marks). Still, there's no denying the inherent eroticism on display here - even if it is entirely dumb.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.