Les femmes de l'ombre (2008)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Jean-Paul Salomé

Writers:

Jean-Paul Salomé (writer)
Laurent Vachaud (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

In May 1944, a group of French servicewomen and resistance fighters are enlisted into the British Special...

Plot Keywords:

Commando | Resistance | D Day | 1944 | Normandy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Female Agents (International: English title)

Runtime:

Germany:117 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | German | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Ireland:15A | Australia:MA | Portugal:M/12 | UK:15 | Germany:16 | New Zealand:R16

Company:

Les Chauves-Souris

Goofs:

Factual errors: The UK doesn't have a 'Royal Academy of London', although there are several other Royal Academies [i.e. Arts, Music, Dance, Ballet, Opera].

Much more real, bleak and thoughtful film than I expected

1944. An undercover agent working for the Allies, holding vital information about the future D-Day landings, is trapped in a French hospital, behind enemy lines. The agent is potentially only hours away from being discovered by the SS, and so the British Strategic Operations Executive put together a team of French speaking agents rescue him. Except for the commanding officer, the team are all women...

Oh, yes. That sounded like just the ticket. Definitely a bit of a romp. Something along the lines of a 1940's set "Mission: Impossible". Stunts, action sequences, beautiful women with serious weaponry using their womanly wiles to run rings around evil, horny Nazis.

Forget it. "Les Femmes de l'ombre" was not that film. The girls were beautiful, there was some de rigeur European nudity and also plenty of firepower and action, but "Les Femmes de l'ombre" was a much more real, bleak and thoughtful film than I expected. Bloody, nasty and sadistic, not to mention dangerous with some toe curling scenes of torture. Mix in with that meditations on fear, betrayal and ultimate self sacrifice.

Perhaps "Les Femmes de l'ombre" was uneven, but it was also a really interesting take on that old chestnut: The war movie about a team sent behind enemy lines on a vital mission. I doubt that Tarantino will make a more memorable film when and if he finally finishes "Inglorious Bastards".