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Nikita
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Nikita (1990) -- Convicted felon Nikita, instead of going to jail, is given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.

Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   21,699 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Luc Besson
Writer:
Luc Besson (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for La Femme Nikita on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
April 1991 (USA) more
Tagline:
The Hit of Paris and London Has Come to America. [US Poster] more
Plot:
Convicted felon Nikita, instead of going to jail, is given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations more
User Comments:
plenty of verve and style, and a (rightfully) perennial favorite of French spy thrillers more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Anne Parillaud ... Nikita
Marc Duret ... Rico
Patrick Fontana ... Coyotte
Alain Lathière ... Zap
Laura Chéron ... La punk
Jacques Boudet ... Le pharmacien
Helene Aligier ... La pharmacienne
Pierre-Alain de Garrigues ... Flic pharmacie
Patrick Pérez ... Flic pharmacie (as Patrick Perez)
Bruno Randon ... Flic pharmacie
Vincent Skimenti ... Flic pharmacie
Roland Blanche ... Flic interrogatoire
Joseph Teruel ... Stagiaire flic
Jacques Disses ... Avocat
Stéphane Fey ... Président tribunal (as Stephane Fey)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
La Femme Nikita (USA)
Nikita (UK)
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Runtime:
115 min | Portugal:118 min | Spain:112 min (DVD edition)
Country:
France | Italy
Language:
Italian | French
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Company:
Gaumont more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Director Trademark: [Luc Besson] [intro] more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Nikita takes Bob hostage her weapon changes from a semi-automatic to a revolver. more
Quotes:
Amande: Let your pleasure be your guide. more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Gomorra (2008) more
Soundtrack:
The Dark Side of Time more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful:-
plenty of verve and style, and a (rightfully) perennial favorite of French spy thrillers, 31 January 2008
9/10
Author: JackGattanella from United States

Luc Besson was on a hot streak in the late 80s/early 90s, and La Femme Nikita (or just Nikita for short) is almost as good as he got at putting his own distinctive stamp on a genre that many auteurs have trouble molding. The spy thriller is great for blockbuster audiences, but to make it into a strong romantic drama is always tricky, as there's the chance for too much one-dimensional theatrics or more attention paid to the plot convolutions than actual human emotions. Nikita squares this problem away just with the protagonist: a young punk (Anne Parillaud, in her most recognizable, near star-making performance) who kills a cop in the midst of a shoot-out is sentenced to life, but then sort of resurrected following the lead of a member of a covert spy organization, and given an ultimatum: become a spy/assassin, or die. She complies, and in a few years time turns into Josephine, who gets orders on the outside from time to time to do tasks like dress up in a maid's outfit to serve potential targets, or to ready herself to kill someone long-range at a moment's notice.

Besson makes his movie, however, by creating a sort of love triangle between Nikita/Josephine/Marie, her boss Bob, and her conventional love Marco, a grocery store cashier who doesn't know what she really does. Besson tools with the elements for a much more conventional thriller, and from time to time it could appear like La Femme Nikita will veer into that realm and not return. But Besson is smart; he crafts the first hour like a kind of 'Taming of the Shrew' saga (or 'Taming of a Shrill Bad-ass'), filled with juicy, dark humor ranging from the ultra-violent (pencil in the hand anyone?) to the silly and playful (training with karate instructors). And as pure director of action sequences Besson shows himself as one of the more distinct masters; it's succinctly fresh and tense while holding the ingredients for what mainstream audiences crave, chiefly in that centerpiece as she is told to kill someone on the night of a seemingly hot date with Bob. Even in the little things, like the scene where she watches the spy put together the concoction for the target in the hotel, works on the purest technical terms.

But La Femme Nikita, for the most part, also works on emotional levels too. Besson won't be above throwing in a hard-boiled killer in the midst (Jean Reno's Victor, my favorite supporting character if only for a few pivotal scenes, and a precursor to Leon), but he'll also subvert it just a tinge for good measure. I loved seeing when Josephine has to take out the woman in Venice, her shot in sight, and is moved to tears through the words that Marco speaks to her, truthfully, not in any terms that deem him as the boring "safe" character, but as her kind of salvation from a life that she's been forced into as a final alternative. As happens often in Besson's work, in fact, the female character is put into a realm of personal chaos that is created by or leads to murder and, at the least, harrowing times with the one she cares for or about (i.e. Portman in Leon, Leeloo in Fifth Element, Joan of Arc, even Angela in Angel-A). It's not simply a gimmick in having the character be a woman- it's essential to Besson's track as a filmmaker, and Praillaud is excellent for the sort of ups and downs the character goes through, sometimes in the same scene!

This isn't to say there are a few minor liabilities, if only from my perspective: the music is usually effective in that early electronic-techno beat style for a modern thriller, yet sometimes it's also a cross between a soft-core porn and Weather channel muzak; the ending felt abrupt, or at least on a first viewing (albeit it's hard to top the scene at the ambassador's HQ); and, as a minor criticism, what happened to showing how Nikita learns how to smile? (Seems a little crucial as something of her personality that's skipped over, when made to seem like a big stepping stone by Jeanne Moreau's enigmatic character.) Otherwise, a must-see, and one of Besson's best films.

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