IMDb > Les femmes de l'ombre (2008) > IMDb user comments
Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]
Index 17 comments in total 

32 out of 43 people found the following review useful:
Gritty WWII mission drama, ala the Dirty Dozen, 16 June 2008
8/10
Author: Wilhelm Fitzpatrick (rafial@well.com) from United States

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!

Was the above comment useful to you?

23 out of 33 people found the following review useful:
Much more real, bleak and thoughtful film than I expected, 7 July 2008
7/10
Author: seawalker from Birmingham, England

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".

Was the above comment useful to you?

22 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
Highly recommended, 20 August 2008
10/10
Author: John Wakeman from United Kingdom

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.

Was the above comment useful to you?

16 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Ou Babes Audace (Where Chicks Dare), 1 February 2009
4/10
Author: TrevorAclea from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

While French title Les Femmes de l'Ombre may aspire to Jean-Pierre Melville, English translation Female Agents is closer to the mark, though this surprisingly well reviewed but increasingly hokey story of a quintet of French SOE agents in occupied France might have been more accurately called Ou Babes Audace. Its group of poorly defined stereotypes led by Sophie Marceau at her most coldly unlikeable are sent to rescue a British geologist on whom the success of D-Day depends from a German army hospital in Normandy, which they manage with unlikely ease with a couple of nurses outfits, a striptease show and a lot of unlikely machinegun fire and explosions, but it turns out the gals have been misled by Marceau's estranged brother and superior in the SOE Julien Boisselier. They're also expected to assassinate a German SS officer with a severe case of vertigo (the Hitchcock kind – he's searching for a double of the French girl who jilted him at the altar and ran off to England), and wouldn't you know it, team member Marie Gillain isn't just a dead ringer for her, she actually is his ex. From then on, what had been a fairly handsomely mounted, efficient but not terribly exciting potboiler becomes an increasingly absurd mess of increasingly moronic and unconvincing contrivance and coincidence-prone hokum that loses most of its relation to reality and sheds IQ points by the reel. Naturally, the girls keep on fudging their mission for no other reason than to kill off another member of the team until it has become so nonsensical that it's threatening to outstay what little welcome it has left.

There's not much room for characterisation until the last third, which is leaving it a bit late for us to care about anyone. Moreau is at her most determinedly disagreeable, something the script does at least briefly try to address by having one character note that "Pity isn't your strong point. Try to be a little bit human for once." Unfortunately when she does it simply shows up her limitations, putting you in mind more of Frasier Crane's ex-wife Lilith than the likes of Odette Sanson or Violette Szabo, though she has more to work with than the clichéd dilemmas facing the other characters. Will the one-time collaborator sleep with her ex or kill him? Will cynical death row whore Julie Depardieu discover idealism? Will the nice Catholic girl Deborah Francois commit suicide to avoid torture? Will a CGi-resurrected Anton Diffring and Ferdy Mayne turn up for old clichés sake? These people simply act like they're in an old war movie rather than real people, going through scenes designed as would-be movie setpieces rather than convincing or involving drama. Small wonder that Moritz Bleibtrau's German villain is the closest the film has to a convincing character: he at least behaves as if he belongs in the time and place more often than not.

There's some cynicism thrown in along the way to try to make it all seem less clichéd - it's the De Gaullist in the group who cracks instantly under the threat of torture and betrays them while a black marketeer is neatly derided: "Start with the Germans, end the war with the Brits. How French can you get?" But at times it feels more cynical itself, with just enough tits and Tommy guns to help sell a few more tickets – director Jean-Paul Salomé even makes sure that one girl is given a gratuitous full frontal nude suicide scene. When a final caption informing us that 'this film is dedicated to the women who fought against Nazi barbarity' comes up you almost expect the words 'and got their tits out doing it' to appear. Not too many pluses – the action scenes aren't very convincing, though a scene on the Metro almost works despite its unlikeliness - but at least Maya Sansa makes an impression in the film's most underwritten role. The DVD includes Deborah Francois' semi-improvised audition scene that hints at a more interesting film that could have been made if co-writer-director Salomé had been more interested in exploring the characters, but the film he ended up making is at best overlong hokum.

Was the above comment useful to you?

15 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
A must see movie for so many reasons., 10 July 2008
8/10
Author: come2whereimfrom from United Kingdom

Whereas a lot of films and television over the years has made war seem a very one-sided affair and concentrated on things from a very male point of view, very few have dealt with the roles that women had played. Set during world war II Female Agents tell of one such group of agents on a mission for the British government behind enemy lines in France in 1944. The mission, to rescue a British geologist who was caught on the beaches of Normandy, the information he has is crucial to the success of the D-day landings. Also there is an SS colonel who is intent on cracking the geologists riddle and thwarting the allied attacks who must be killed no matter what the cost. Assembling the group a brother and sister team chose girls because of their backgrounds and skills and after a one day refresher course in field skills they are off. From this point on the film thanks to the story (based in truth) the acting (universally brilliant) and the cinematography (breathtaking) grips like a vice and doesn't let up until the credits roll. Challenging and at times brutal it shows in very real terms what people went through and what they sacrificed to bring down the evil Nazi regime. It shows us a time that although we don't want to remember we should never forget and this film is a fine example of the heroic work done by individuals that eventually secured our freedom as a whole. A must see movie for so many reasons.

Was the above comment useful to you?

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Fact is stronger than fiction, 10 April 2009
5/10
Author: adthe_lad from Spain

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

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?

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Those Gals Really Are Something, 18 July 2009
8/10
Author: robert-temple-1 from United Kingdom

This is a very exciting and effective film about female espionage agents of the British S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) during World War II. It is ironical that it is the French, not the British, who made this film, in which only a few sentences of English are spoken. The English subtitles are really too rapid, I must point out. Apart from a few scenes set in England, the film effectively all takes place in Nazi Occupied France under the revolting Vichy Regime in 1944, where all the dangerous missions in the story take place. As the film proceeds, we realize that the underlying threat is that the secrets of the D-Day Normandy landings are in danger of being betrayed, thus destroying their surprise value and enabling the Nazis to win the War. So the stakes could not be higher. According to titles shown at the end of the film, this story is in many respects true, and the lead character played with tremendous, bitter panache by Sophie Marceau only died as recently as 2004 at the age of 98! As she was a French woman, though working as an agent for the SOE (and her brother worked for De Gaulle's Free French in London), that must explain why her story was known in France, and why it was French producers who decided to film it. The story as filmed contains countless inaccuracies of procedure and plot which could never really have happened, and some details are ridiculous (a sister and brother sent on the same mission together!?). So the story has been greatly hyped-up to 'Hollywoodize' it, by the French Hollywood, which we might perhaps call by the name of Tuileriewood-en-Seine, or Tile-Town as opposed to Tinsel-Town ('a night out on the tiles' being a good description for some Paris evenings). The film starts rather slowly, and one is not certain that it is going to work at first. But when it gets into its stride, it is gripping and coherent. There are many grisly scenes of torture by the Gestapo, which take a strong stomach, and seeing Nazis savagely and maniacally beating up women and nearly drowning them in water tanks, even pulling out their finger nails (this is done to the delicately beautiful actress Deborah Francois, who appears as fragile as the petals of a fluttering chamomile flower on a windy day), is more than merely upsetting. However, it was obviously decided by the producers that these pretty young women were to be treated with as much grit as men, both in their actions and in the depiction of their fates. It is no bad thing to remind viewers of how the Nazis behaved, and that they really did these things. There are some detailed touches which add to the horror of it all: a Gestapo woman clerk sits impassively at a small wooden table making notes, wholly unmoved by the agonized shrieks and screams of the women being tortured in front of her. As for the Nazi SS colonel supervising all of this and trying to get the information out of them, he could not be more bored and oblivious to the suffering and the screams, which to him are merely tedious. To the Nazis, torturing human beings was no different from stepping on ants. If it accomplishes nothing else, perhaps this film will make a few young people think for a moment about a War which to them is now 'long ago and far away', and why should they be interested. Just seeing a screen title informing us that the Gestapo's Paris Headquarters was in Avenue Foch is enough to precipitate a mild attack of hysteria. That is where all the billionaires now live in luxury. I have been in a couple of their grand houses, and all I can say is: 'Nom de Dieu!' And to think that it was in those surroundings, where the super-rich now besport themselves with their vintage Cristal champagne (I must admit it is delicious, but no one really needs it), that the Gestapo pulled out the finger nails of beautiful girls in their early twenties and thought nothing of it, merely finding their screams of pain a bore! Do see this film, if only to be horrified and appalled, but also to admire the courage of the women, not only the men, who gave their lives to defeat the greatest evil that befell a much-accursed earth during the 20th century, the regime of the monstrous instruments of Evil who dared to call themselves a Master Race.

Was the above comment useful to you?

5 out of 8 people found the following review useful:
Alternative view... it's a good story.. but is it good entertainment?, 5 March 2009
3/10
Author: kinetic2080

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There is no doubt this is a very well-made movie, good cast and generally good handwork. The women are believable in their roles and the conflict is an exciting one. Look elsewhere for a synopsis. But... (potential spoiler) This movie starts out as a female agent movie but towards the end it has become rather a film about female being dressed naked, tortured, beaten. Which makes it into a very sad movie indeed. Namely because women being dressed naked tortured and beaten is not good entertainment, at least for those of us who love women. I present this as an "alternative view" review, because other people might say it would be necessary to show the cruelty of war, others might say it's not over the top cruel... the scenes could be worse and would have to be more explicit detailed if you where to call it a bad movie. There is many who likes this movie. But be warned... you might be offended, you might find it to be bad taste... at least thats my conclusion.

Was the above comment useful to you?

11 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
Excellent., 15 October 2008
7/10
Author: bob_hamer2004 from United Kingdom

This is the story of four girls recruited in the latter part of WWII, who are dropped into occupied France, and reek havok to rescue a captured British spy, caught in France posing as a geologist. It is often bloody and gritty, but totally convincing, and never boring. I read a previous comment that described it as a "Made for TV movie". Well all i can say is, they certainly don't make war movies with full frontal nudity and torture scenes, and show them on my TV. The fact that this is the story of women doing what we would generally have expected only men did during the war, is what what I found so interesting. I'll never chain my wife to the cooker again. An excellent, entertaining, well made film. The acting is totally convincing, particularly Sophie Marceau, who plays the lead role. 7.5/10

Was the above comment useful to you?

12 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Unusual and well told, 8 October 2008
7/10
Author: intelearts from the big screen

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.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]

Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Plot synopsis Ratings
Awards External reviews Official site
Plot keywords Main details Your user comments
Your vote history