Les femmes de l'ombre (2008) Reviews

• Gripping film

  les69692011-01-26

  There are many positive things about this film that for me anyway make any negatives irrelevant. I know it isn't 100% accurate but the acting of all the cast is quite superb in my opinion. Sophie Marceau as Louise stands out in this film, her acting is superb and although she is clearly a beautiful woman she does not seem to mind looking less than glamorous throughout. Her range or emotion was truly gripping. Julien Boisselier as her brother Pierre is a tortured soul who has a coldness about him that was probably necessary to carry out the tasks they had to. Julie Depardieu as Jeanne, Maya Sansa as Maria,are all good as is the stunning Marie Gillain, but Déborah François as Gaëlle,did an amazing job showing her characters naiveté and youth and some really strong and convincing emotions especially when captured. Colonel Heindrich is played by Moritz Bleibtreu who has had some criticism on here but in my opinion he carried it off perfectly. Many SS were ruthless and clinical and yet at the same time gentlemen and family men. A lot of this film is unrealistic and no doubt done for dramatic effect but the more you watch the more you get drawn in. I would highly recommend this film and would watch it again I am sure.

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• Much more real, bleak and thoughtful film than I expected

  seawalker2008-07-07

  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".

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• Gritty WWII mission drama, ala the Dirty Dozen

  rafial2008-06-16

  I saw this film at this years Seattle International Film Festival, and other than the bizarre choice of "Female Agents" as the English title, I loved it. I think a more direct translation of the title as "Women of the Shadows" or some such would have been much more evocative. The film itself is a gritty WWII espionage drama in the classic mold, with the team of misfits being assembled to do the job that only they can do. Only in this case, they are women. The film does not shrink from the grittiness and danger of the mission, especially when it extends to several gutwrenching interrogation scenes. There is no chivalry in this war. Moritz Bleibtreu is especially effective as an SS Colonel who believes himself to be a decent man, doing only what he must, yet in reality committing atrocity after atrocity. Special effects are well used to give us occupied Paris in great detail, and the whole look of the film is quite stylish. A recommended film!

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• Fact is stronger than fiction

  adthe_lad2009-04-10

  A film that pays homage to the bravery of the women of SOE who parachuted into occupied France has long been overdue and in my opinion is still to be made as this film falls short of the mark, however, not as insultingly as the Charlotte Gray film did, where the woman agent was portrayed as delicate and ditched her mission for the sake of a romance. For a European production this movie is surprisingly dumbed down and makes the same senseless historical mistakes usually associated with mechanically produced Hollywood films. This is no atmospheric masterpiece as the characters are shallow, the script is too basic and the camera work is conventional. It feels as if the film were made in a hurry, which is a shame as they definitely had the resources available to make it visually convincing with plenty of vintage cars, Kubelwagens, costumes, planes, trains and cool locations etc...This film could be OK for people who just want some eye candy for 90 minutes. Justice has so far only been made to the real women agents in books and it is scandalous how film makers have overlooked the potential for making a credible movie given the abundance of real and amazing material out there. Why Directors who have so far tackled this subject have ruined it all with fictional nonsense,is anybodies guess. If you are really interested in the subject you should read about agents such as Nancy Wake or the revealing book by Marcus Binney titled "The women who lived for danger", which tells the gripping stories of 10 different agents. There was also an excellent channel 4 documentary called "The Real Charlotte Grays". Fiction vs historical fact (Contains Spoilers)............. As an avid reader of everything SOE I was groaning early on in this film as the historical facts were shamelessly trampled under foot by the director. First off they have Maurice Buckmaster telling war secrets to a woman who hasn't even decided whether to accept the mission yet. She then goes on to recruit women who are not interested in going, which is an insult to the real agents as they were highly motivated people who were vetted by SOE on a very strict basis. Then the 5 agents go to France without any training and travel together on trains without taking any security measures. 5 agents together on a train? What were they thinking? Whatsmore, they all get off at a main Paris station rather than get off one stop before and bus in to avoid the German presence they knew would be at all main stations...The story about the geologist on the beach, a week before the Normandy invasion is just plain ridiculous. As if they didn't know the density of the sand till a week before the operation. Finally, SOE never sent brothers and sisters or married couples together on missions for the simple fact that they could be tortured in front of each other to make them talk. When are they going to make "The Movie" about SOE?

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• Highly recommended

  j-wak2008-08-20

  I happened to see 'The Dark Knight' the night before I saw this, and felt somewhat unsatisfied by it. This film (which I hadn't even heard of until yesterday) by contrast, provided what I'd been looking for: dark, yes - very, but evoking real emotional depth and a sense of the ambiguity and terrible moral choices that have to be faced in wartime. And completely gripping, excellently acted. The fact that the underlying scenario has been used before is completely irrelevant - how many films have been made about 'two people falling in love' for example? This is not only an excellently realised 'wartime adventure' story - it's a harrowing and thought-provoking film which will definitely stay with you. Get to see it if you can.

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