Femme Fatale (2002)

Brian De Palma's stylish neo-noir, *Femme Fatale* (2002), plunges viewers into the alluring and treacherous world of Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn), a masterful con-woman. The film intricately weaves a narrative around a woman trying to straighten out her life, even as her past as a con-woman comes back to haunt her. Beginning with a dazzling, intricate jewel heist at the Cannes Film Festival, the story immediately establishes its high-stakes, glamorous setting. What follows is a complex tapestry of mistaken identity, chance encounters, and shifting realities, as Laure attempts to shed her former persona only to find her meticulously constructed new life threatened by a tenacious paparazzi photographer and the ghosts of her past. Despite its initial divisive reception, *Femme Fatale* stands as a quintessential Brian De Palma film and a compelling entry for any "best of" list, representing a late-career triumph for the director. It’s a dazzling showcase of his signature style: elaborate, often wordless set-pieces (most notably the opening Cannes heist), masterful use of long takes, split diopter shots, and a sensuous, dreamlike aesthetic that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. De Palma delights in Hitchcockian suspense, doppelgängers, and the intoxicating allure of deception, all central to this twisting narrative. The film is a meta-commentary on storytelling itself, a stylish, audacious puzzle box that demands multiple viewings and rewards the patient observer with a uniquely De Palman experience of voyeurism, betrayal, and ultimate wish fulfillment. Its bold narrative gambits and visual panache cement its place as a true cinematic auteur's statement.