Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Sophie Marceau | ... | Louise Desfontaines | |
Julie Depardieu | ... | Jeanne Faussier | |
Marie Gillain | ... | Suzy Desprez | |
Déborah François | ... | Gaëlle Lemenech | |
Moritz Bleibtreu | ... | Karl Heindrich | |
Maya Sansa | ... | Maria Luzzato | |
Julien Boisselier | ... | Pierre Desfontaines | |
Vincent Rottiers | ... | Eddy | |
Volker Bruch | ... | Lieutenant Becker | |
Robin Renucci | ... | Melchior | |
Xavier Beauvois | ... | Claude Granville | |
Colin David Reese | ... | Colonel Maurice Buckmaster | |
![]() |
Jurgen Mash | ... | Gerd Von Rundstedt |
Conrad Cecil | ... | Le géologue anglais | |
![]() |
Alexandre Jazede | ... | René Bourienne |
In 1944, in London, Lieutenant Pierre Desfontaines assigns his sister Louise Desfontaines to convince three other women to form a five-woman task force under his command to rescue a British geologist from a German hospital in the countryside. The geologist was assigned by Colonel Maurice Buckmaster in a reconnaissance mission of the soil of the beaches at Normandy for the D-Day and had been captured by the Germans. Louise and Pierre force the prostitute Jeanne Faussier that is imprisoned for murdering her pimp; the explosives expert Gaëlle Lemenech that misses action; and the former dancer and fiancé of Colonel Karl Heindrich, Suzy Desprez, using blackmail and unethical methods to fly to France and join the Italian agent Maria Luzzato in the assignment. They are well-succeeded but when they deliver the geologist to the British aeroplane, Pierre betrays the group. He forces the women to travel to Paris to kill Colonel Heindrich who suspects that the landing of the allied forces will be... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Female Agents is one of the very few war films that concentrates on women as soldiers rather than wives waiting for returning men.
Based around the SOE operations towards the end of WWII this is a very well-made and well thought out offering.
Very well shot and lit, with good detailing in both set and costume, this is really a character piece as well as an action film; Sofie Marceau shines as the level-headed leader determined to carry out her mission and the rest of the cast are up to her standard.
It doesn't have a Hallmark moment in it, but chooses bleakness and some harrowing (But not horrific) scenes that mean it remains a good tense war film.
Recommended.