Female Agents (2008) User Reviews

Gripping film

[les6969 · 8/10 · 26 January 2011]

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.

Much more real, bleak and thoughtful film than I expected

[seawalker · 7/10 · 7 July 2008]

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".

Gritty WWII mission drama, ala the Dirty Dozen

[rafial · 8/10 · 16 June 2008]

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!

Unusual and well told

[intelearts · 7/10 · 8 October 2008]

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.

Excellent.

[bob_hamer2004 · 7/10 · 15 October 2008]

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

Good Thriller with little historical value

[Clays13 · 7/10 · 5 August 2010]

I started watching this movie rather sceptical, because I was expecting a french patriotism flick, since french history usually gives you the impression that the whole of France was in "La Resistance". But I have to say, that I was surprised about the interpretation of occupied France. The story is well written, the actors fit the roles mostly (I love Moritz Bleibtreu but an SS officer doesn't really suit him in my opinion) and they do a good job. Overall a good thriller set in the Third Reich. The true core of the story is of course really small. The events presented in the movie didn't take place. But its good entertainment.

SHEROIC

[MadamWarden · 7/10 · 3 March 2020]

A really good war movie with great cast, good acting and tense plot. The fact that it was based on real events makes it all that much better.

A good watch!

A must see movie for so many reasons.

[come2whereimfrom · 8/10 · 10 July 2008]

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.

The French Inglorious Female Bastards in an Absurd but Entertaining Story

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 31 July 2011]

In 1944, in London, Lieutenant Pierre Desfontaines (Julien Boisselier) assigns his sister Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau) 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 of France. The geologist was assigned by Colonel Maurice Buckmaster (Colin David Reese) 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 whore Jeanne Faussier (Julie Depardieu) that is imprisoned for murdering her pimp; the explosives expert Gaëlle Lemenech (Déborah François) that misses action; and the former dancer and fiancé of Colonel Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), Suzy Desprez (Marie Gillain) using blackmail and unethical methods to fly to France and join the Italian agent Maria Luzzato (Maya Sansa) in the assignment.

They are well-succeeded but when they deliver the geologist to the British airplane, Pierre betrays the group and does not allow the women to fly back to London. He forces them to travel to Paris to kill Colonel Heindrich that suspects that the landing of the allied forces will be through the Normandy, in a dangerous mission.

"Les Femmes de l'Ombre" is a sort of French Inglorious "Female" Bastards. The plot recalls the 1978 Italian film "Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato" a.k.a. "Inglorious Bastards", with three rogue women assigned to a very dangerous mission in occupied France.

The plot is absurd but entertains, with the women having one-day training and parachuting in the night and attacking a German hospital full of soldiers in a well-synchronized operation. The characters are not well-developed and inconsistent, and Louise is a nurse and a sniper; Jeanne is a selfish whore capable to self-sacrifice for a cause; Liliane hates Heindrich, but when she sees him, she changes; Gaëlle is expert in explosives and absolutely unsuitable for the second mission. The greatest problem in this film is the reference that it is based on a true story. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Contratadas para Matar" ("Hired to Kill")

Fact is stronger than fiction

[adthe_lad · 5/10 · 10 April 2009]

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?

Those Gals Really Are Something

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 18 July 2009]

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.

Female agents

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 9 March 2010]

WWII and the Nazis are favorite subjects to turn into films. "Female Agents" takes a different approach to tell a story about the last days of the conflict. When a British agent is wounded and caught by the Germans while on a mission prior to the landing at Normandy, his superiors in England go into action enlisting exiled brother and sister, Pierre and Louise Desfontaines to fly into France to rescue the wounded man from his captors.

There is little preparation before the actual D-Day invasion. It is May, only a few days until the planned Allied landing. Pierre enlists his own widowed sister Louise, an expert in tactical planning to put together a small group to assist her in the rescue operation. Thus, a motley crew is assembled, Louise plus four other women will go to do their contribution to the war effort. The women come from different ways of life. Each one has a particular area of expertise to help the cause.

Alas, not everything goes according to plan. The women are facing one of the most feared Nazis in France, SS Col. Heindrich. This is a challenge for the team as they will encounter all kinds of dangers while trying to do their job. The wounded agent is being interrogated by Heindrich in a French hospital. The attempt to get him out proves to be an immense job in which the women will show their courage, but at the same time, it will be a high price to pay for some in the group.

Director Jean-Paul Salome, working with co-writer Laurent Vachaud, gives the audience an action packed film. The emphasis is to show the valor of these French women at a time when their country was divided, and also everyone felt the humiliation of the Nazi occupation. The partisan movement worked hard behind the scenes to try and exterminate the enemy from their soil at all costs.

Sophie Marceau is fine, as usual, as Louise. The others in the group, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, and Deborah Francois, do also good work for director Salome. As it is always the case, the bad guy, in this case, Moritz Bleibtreu, has great fun with his evil Col. Heindrich.

Nice story but terrible film

[dbk-923-252984 · 4/10 · 8 January 2011]

This film is probably based on true events but the keyword here is "based", as in very remotely based. I think the blame should be put on the writer and director who did an incredibly poor job out of a potential hit, messing it up to the point of turning a war-time thriller into a hilarious comedy, with no intention of doing so.

The scenario lacked credibility from beginning to end. After a mere day of training, these poor girls manage to parachute at night without even a scratch, perform a perfectly synchronized strip show on music they'd never heard before and without the slightest possibility of a rehearsal.

Sophie the sharp-shooter doesn't hold her breath while aiming, holds her rifles on both occasions at the shoulder, without support, hence shaking like a leaf, yet hitting her targets in the darkest of nights at the start of the film and later missing an unmissable shot in the subway with a state-of-the-art rifle in perfect conditions.

At one point the girls get into a shoot-out (at the hospital) and hold their Stens at arm's length, like a bunch of dirty diapers, without getting their wrists damaged by the recoil and, of course, hitting their targets square on instead of shooting at birds.

Such scenes were highly reminiscent of Charlie's Angels at their best, although the latter film is intended to be seen as funnily over-the-top, whereas the former is supposed to be realistic and based on true events.

If all these failings were not sufficient to trigger bouts of hilarious laughter in the audience, the scenario pushes on and arranges for the girls to always be at the right spot at the right time with the right contacts, help and equipment, as though they had planned and rehearsed all the mishaps of their mission hundreds of times beforehand, a bit in the style of James Bond films. Simply not credible for such a story.

The director jumps continuously from one scene to the next without the slightest hint of fluidity nor continuity, in the manner of a Marvel's comic. The girls look panicked throughout but yet manage to make all the right moves with nerves of steel, with a clear vision of when to hit, or shoot, or walk instead of running, and yet fail to kill the bad guy on so many occasions until the very end, as prescribed by the confused scenario, naturally.

The sobbing looks fake in nearly all relevant scenes. The girls' characters evolve erratically in all psychological directions, as though they'd had weeks to think through what was happening to them and change their minds. The scenes of torture and suicide by cyanide pill have an air of strange impressionism derived from a 70's film by Godard. The bad Nazis have the look and feel of choir boys.

In short it feels like a girlie's remake of Inglorious Basterds, shallow as hell, making very little sense or, rather, asking the viewer to mentally fill the gaps where the director lacked the time, or skill, or both, to package an otherwise interesting story into a sensible unit.

Contrary to some comments I've read, the French know how to make excellent action films, write credible scenarii, and act convincingly, probably more so than most productions made in Hollywood. Unfortunately "les femmes de l'ombre" is a very bad example and shouldn't be seen as a landmark of French film-making, unless of course one looks at it as a comical parody of a would-be serious war-time story, in which case it remarkably hits the jackpot.

I can't go so far as to recommend against watching it because, given enough imagination and little attention to detail, I wouldn't be surprised if someone found something interesting in it after all. I mean, let's face it, if you're a teenage girl or a romantic grandma, you'll probably like it.

One more amazing Amazon movie

[searchanddestroy-1 · 16 March 2008]

First, let me say that I was fully satisfied by this Amazon story.

It takes place during WW 2, in France, where four women are recruited by the head staff of the free french forces to escape a member of the Resistance prisoner of the Gestapo.

It's an action movie, a heart gripping one.

One more Amazone film, as was Set it Off, Girls on the Loose, Five Gates to Hell, or even A Gun for Jennifer - in a totally different context...I forget many more.

Here, there is no question of lesbianism, but only patriotism, sacrifice.

We can nevertheless note many incoherences in this story, but its good.

The subway scene is outstanding, and I wonder how Brian De Palma would have shot this one, considering his editing virtuosity.

Missing overtones but superlative WWII flavor ..Great watch

[samabc-31952 · 7/10 · 20 August 2021]

"In 1940 Winston Churchill created the special operations executive SOE - One section to oversee the France operations. In 1941 Col Morris Buckmaster was appointed as its head And then in 1944 this section suffered a heavy human loss because of D-day" 4 women with different backgrounds.. they are not the nurses working in a temporary battlefield hospitals or typists seating behind the desks or secretaries running around on the marble floors... this is a story of bravery, courage and most importantly guts...A plight of women behind enemy lines... Reminded me of Laxmi Sahgal of INA...A somewhat fast forward plot but nimbly paced. Felt few gaps in characterizations but Well-fitted performances portrays the emotions vividly... Although predictable story but few overtones in the screenplay could have added little jamais Vu to the watching experience.. but the photography, location, the flavor of WWII are superlative....based on a true story.. a great watch..

Mixed bag that entertains despite its flaws

[adnarish · 6/10 · 17 January 2014]

The premise of Jean-Paul Salomé's 'Les femmes de l'ombre' is as simple as it is effective: a hastily assembled team of female commandos is tasked with liberating a British man who ended up in a German hospital. He needs to be freed before the Germans realise that he might have information on the imminent Normandy landings. As usual, the plan goes awry, and the women are asked to go to Paris to take care of some loose ends.

What unfolds is a battle of wits, of torture, and of actual fire fights between the British SOE-affiliated French resistance fighters led by Pierre Desfontaines (Julien Boisselier) and his sister Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau) on the one hand, and the loathsome Karl Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu) on the other.

While the events often strain credulity, and sometimes feel completely impossible, I was able to enjoy this little adventure through German-occupied France because of its high pace, interesting locations, and credible visuals. I suppose some will see this as a negative, and decry its similarities to the nonsensical American action films of which there is certainly no shortage. There's certainly something to that, and I would join them in hoping we'll someday see a more realistic take on these brave women who risked everything for their family, friends, and country. The Germans do a good job of living up to their reputation, though, and the film is appropriately dedicated to the women who fought against Nazi barbarity.

The acting is mostly fine, and I would ascribe any lack of characterization or credibility to the script rather than the men and women involved. I'd also like to echo the comment of another reviewer in that I would have liked to see more of Maya Sansa's Maria Luzzato, who seemed like a more interesting character than the two younger members of Desfontaines' group.

All in all, I found this film to be an enjoyable ride through France in June 1944. We are reminded, if perhaps not as accurately as possible, of the great sacrifice made by both men and women to put an end to the horrors Germany inflicted on millions of innocent Europeans. It might not be perfect, but it works well enough, and I think this perspective on the war will appeal to parts of the public that might otherwise not be interested. If so, it'll have accomplished a good thing, because as Ray Bradbury famously wrote in his book Fahrenheit 451 (1953): "We're remembering. That's where we'll win out in the long run."

Rip-roaring, female driven wartime thriller made with the best of intentions that finely balances historical, as well as more generically inclined, content.

[johnnyboyz · 7/10 · 29 July 2011]

At the time of Female Agent's production, and as a sentiment that has in all fairness hung around through to around about the present, the French were/are probably making the best films of any nation collectively in the world. With this in mind, we do enjoy a good French film; even more so if it's driven by women, because that can be good fun and since a good Second World War film makes for a fair old crack now and again, what's the problem with sitting down for a cut-and-thrust, causality driven World War 2 resistance picture about varying parties darting across occupied Europe? Female Agents ticks all of the above boxes; a pacey, highly enjoyable little yarn which tells a good story in an unabashed fashion whilst shedding light on the tales of those history has, to a fair old few, since forgotten: the woman out of the factory, and on the front-line of war.

The film begins with a Bond-inspired pre-credits action sequence; Sophie Marceau, she of once of a Bond role, plays Louise Desfontaines: a woman who's seemingly at the top of her warmongering game in her sniping of an array of German soldiers on a cold, bleak evening illuminated only by that of the light brought about by the crude lamps dotted around this docklands area and the harsh headlamps to that of an array of German vehicles in and around the locale. Working with a few others, and under a high pressure situation as things spiral out of control inducing a gun fight, she manages to resurrect the situation and escape with her life amidst an unholy mess that should have been a mission executed more smoothly. It's 1944, and our Louise is placed at the forefront of a larger, more important mission that she will lead in the field, for which she will require the recruitment of certain others. The crew are a motley, disparate lot; a faction of women of varying ages, backgrounds and views on what constitutes a way of life together for this mission based in northern France. These include the likes of Maria (Sansa), a nurse; Suzy (Gillain), a woman formerly a stage strip tease performer; an explosives expert in Gaëlle (François) and that of Jeanne (Depardieu), who's dragged from prison and is there in the first place on some serious sanctions - she's killed, and she'll be asked to kill again.

Once they are rounded up and taken to a British airfield additionally populated by that of the men of the American Air Force, a scene that will no doubt go down like a lead balloon stateside plays out in which a bomber crew make light of the women by wolf whistling as they strut past. Yes, it's in good fun but it is first and foremost director Jean-Paul Salomé highlighting the threat of both objectification and transgression these women face in a film of this nature; here addressing it and, by making us aware of such an item, steadily deviating from what would otherwise be an ill-minded approach to dealing with these women driving a film that will come to be rich in action and the process of placing these women and their bodies on the front-line of warfare. The women have a foil, a Nazi colonel whom is ahead of the game; a man whom manages to make frighteningly accurate predictions on where the imminent Normandy landings will take place. It is in fact a proposal put to an array of German higher-ups in a briefing room; a proposal which is promptly mocked by those within and therefore dismissed. The man is Karl Heindrich (Bleibtreu), and in spite of these disagreements, we sense is unafraid to make swift decisions and as a result of his predictions, must have a fair degree of intuition.

Desfontaines and her team's mission goes well, a job in a quaint manor house occupied by the Germans adhering to the Where Eagles Dare ideology of seducing and sneaking your way in but opting to shoot one's way out – blowing the odd thing up in the process not necessarily harming proceedings. Post job, the game changes; and while Salomé's film has been accused of borrowing an awful lot from various war films, The Dirty Dozen in particular, its twist after the opening act has it mostly feel like something in the region of Peckinpah's The Getaway or Frankenheimer's French-set chase thriller Ronin. There are even splashes of Infernal Affairs; the film mutating into a film detailing a Frenchmen in league with the Nazi's discovered by the girls, and consequently forced by the girls, into working with the titular agents as one of their own are simultaneously caught and tortured by the Germans into revealing secrets which could ruin everything.

The things about Female Agents we enjoy most lie with its director's ability to get on with proceedings; we enjoy the notion of two distinct factions, each with enough of a force behind them, barging through most of occupied Europe desiring their prize: the general wrongfulness or evilness of the Nazi war-machine under Heindrich chasing that of the empowered women looking to get away, although hang around long enough to save a few of their own, subverting that of, and continuing the sense of this being a crime film-come-'fallout-from-a-heist' movie, Mann's male dominated Heat or De Palma's The Untouchables as a film covering characters trapped in oneupmanship. The film is sharp but tough to watch on the occasions it needs to be; thrilling and exciting, without ever exploiting the warfare as action, when it needs to be and makes for a really decent resistance movie in a recent canon of films that are as such.

An important and unique contribution to recent WWII films

[three-m · 8/10 · 27 May 2010]

Films abound regarding arguably the greatest tragedy of mankind--World War II--and so many focus on the heroic sacrifices of men. What makes "Les Femmes de L'ombre" shine is that it features the typically unsung contributors to the war effort--the heroines who shared the same audacity and love of country and liberty as the men.

Aside from its cast of four gorgeous French women (and an equally delightful Italian), it features a simple, but clever agenda--the actions of a cell of saboteurs and assassins working for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in occupied France. There are no fantastic stories here--no plots to kill Hitler or to sabotage atomic research. Instead, the story narrows its focus to the extraordinary efforts to keep secret the particulars of the inevitable invasion of the European continent by the Allies. This is no small order, and there is much suffering in keeping what must remain secret.

The emotions in the film are well played by the actors and actresses. During the few brutal, but necessary scenes, the cries of anguish and pain are real and powerfully emotive. Louise (Sophie Marceau) is convincing as a vengeful widow who works alongside her dedicated brother, Pierre (Julien Boisselier). Jeanne (Julie Depardieu, daughter of the famous French actor Gerard Depardieu) plays a callous whore motivated at first by remission of her prison sentence, then by money, then by revenge. Gaëlle (Déborah François) portrays the naïve, religious girl who is seemingly the only true French patriot of the group. Maria (Maya Sansa) is a driven, Italian Jew whose family met its fate in a concentration camp. The most reluctant member is the lovely Suzy (Marie Gillain), whose questionable past allied her with the most unlikely of characters, Colonel Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu) of the Wehrmacht and the film's major antagonist. Unexpected support comes from local profiteer, Eddy (Vincent Rottiers), whose connection to Colonel Heindrich enables the saboteurs to get close to him to fulfill their mission.

If there's a noticeable weakness to the film, it is Bleibtreu cast as a Nazi colonel. He's neither evil nor intimidating. He lacks the sinister persona of Colonel Landa (Christoph Waltz) of "Inglourious Basterds," a decidedly less serious film of the genre. Where Colonel Heindrich should have been clever and cruel, his performance instead is wooden and uninspiring. Bleibtreu may be a little out of his realm in a role so serious.

Les Femmes de L'ombre is a solid contribution to the WWII films of the last decade. I hope it inspires more stories of the Resistance to be told with attention to the incredible sacrifices and dedication of normal people confronted with the horrors of Nazism.

Had the potential to be great but just fell short

[Joxerlives · 7/10 · 15 September 2014]

Always been fascinated by the world of SOE ever since growing up watching Secret Army as a kid. This is one of the best films I've ever seen on the subject, much better than Charlotte Gray or TV series like 'Wish Me Luck' which were distinctly mediocre.

Was actually unaware that this was a French language film although this doesn't detract from the action at all. It also made sense that French speakers would practice their language exclusively before returning to their homeland so that they don't accidentally lapse into English by mistake or speak British accented French. I would very much have liked to have seen more detail in terms of the commando training which has always been one of the more fascinating aspects of the story (they all seem to be mysteriously parachute qualified virtually instantly?). The story isn't bad although you wonder that they would give such priority to killing a single SS Colonel even if he was given Rommel's ear by the 3rd of June 1944 it would be too late for them to do anything about it.

From a military perspective it isn't bad although everyone falls into the shoot from the hip tradition. When the Colonel is giving his briefing I kept expecting the interviewing officers to ask him if the geologist couldn't have been the diversion, intended to draw German forces away from Calais. You also wonder that the French officer tells him the truth about the Mulberry harbours rather than try to buy time by bluffing, saying they're for protecting the landing craft from underwater attack or something?

Obviously there's a lot of torture here but it's never gratuitous, you still feel for the captured religious agent who cannot bare to kill herself as she's supposed to and breaks under extreme pain as anyone would.

The ending despite the Allied victory is downbeat and maudlin, you'd have liked the sole survivor to have a big family and name her kids after her fallen comrades but things don't always work out that way (presumably she lost her baby due to the torture and may not have been able to have any more?). Her looking through the photos and coming across her friend who has been tortured to death is heartrending although couldn't she have come up with a less drastic 'diversion' at the railway station?. What's perhaps even more interesting is the fate of the young French collaborator who switches sides and becomes the hero of the Resistance, we last see him capturing the SS Colonel's assistant (and what happens to him? Shot as a war criminal or recruited by the West to help in the Cold War?).

All told a good film but I'd have liked a little more

the mission seems wrong-headed

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 October 2015]

It's 1944 London. Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau) and brother Pierre Desfontaines (Julien Boisselier) are part of Special Operations Executive tasked with extracting a British geologist who is testing the beaches of Normandy. They recruit Jeanne Faussier (Julie Depardieu), an imprisoned whore who killed her pimp. They threaten Suzy Desprez (Marie Gillain) who is hiding her past as a dancer and mistress to a Nazi. Gaëlle Lemenech (Déborah François) is a chemical explosive expert bored with being a secretary. Maria Luzzato (Maya Sansa) is an Italian Jewish radio operator. The group go into occupied France to search for the captured geologist. Later, Pierre Desfontaines forces an almost suicidal mission on the women to go to Paris and kill SS Colonel Heindrich who may know too much about Normandy.

I like the recruiting and the various female characters. However, the mission strikes me as being very wrong-headed. If they spend so much effort to get the geologist, then it would be essentially the same as a confirmation that Normandy is important. They may as well shine a neon sign on the guy that he's a secret agent. The only realistic plan is to confirm that the geologist is held at the hospital and then bomb the building to smithereens. That way the geologist is killed and it wouldn't be obvious. It would also kill his interrogators. This whole movie feels like a badly conceived Bond movie.

Highly recommended

[j-wak · 10/10 · 20 August 2008]

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.

[6.7] Fight and forgiveness

[cjonesas · 7/10 · 7 February 2024]

A mildly impactful production with everything mild in it besides frustration, anger, tears, throat-clenching emotions and the flow of the sad score. The actors are just playing their parts, though they play it well, it's the screenplay plots and location-wise atmosphere that don't accompany their efforts.

Most of the time, the logic and continuity of the scenes don't provide assistance as they should have, if so, the movie would have been finished before reaching the 50 minutes threshold.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 6.5
• Development: 7.5
• Realism: 6
• Entertainment: 6.5
• Acting: 7
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8
• VFX: 8
• Music/score/sound: 7
• Depth: 7.5
• Logic: 3
• Flow: 6.5
• Drama/war: 7
• Ending: 6.5.

Chariles Angles in WWII save the day...

[luke-283 · 5/10 · 5 October 2008]

If this movie were a "10" as a few reviewers have rated it then it would be in a theather near you right now. But that wont happen. Its not that good.

And a shame it is too because there is some real talent and great production values apparent in this film but it falls flat on storyline and plot.

Some one went to a great deal of time and effort and expense to make this film but the final product leaves you with the feeling you just watched a "fair" made for TV Drmna.

Its not a perfect movie but will probably entertain a small audience.

liked it

[cogitoergohmm · 7/10 · 5 June 2017]

A bit like a female-cast, French-with-subtitles version of The Dirty Dozen, with just a smidgen of a James Bond flick. Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers it ain't, but it's a good WW II story. A story about brave women, and only one feminist line in it ("You would never have done this to men," in a situation in which, the guy would certainly have done the same to men.

Compelling & violent, even with distinct room for improvement

[I_Ailurophile · 7/10 · 30 June 2023]

I'm a bit surprised by how briskly paced this is, and how direct the storytelling. The movie immediately launches into its plot, dashes through exposition, and keeps steadily moving, to the point of brusque forthrightness and leaping past nuance. One might reasonably be concerned, given the common and unfortunate trend of films that star an ensemble of women, that the writing will be characterized by tropes, and moreover a lighter tone that doesn't treat the material with all due seriousness. Well, there are definitely some tropes on hand, particularly when it comes to building the team, the dynamics between the members, and rounding out the threads for individual characters. But I'm happy to say that whatever else is true of 'Les femmes de l'ombre,' it doesn't remotely shy away from violence, nor emphatically darker vibes commensurate with the horribleness of the Nazis and the gravity of the scenario. I'm certainly not saying that it's perfect, but overall I think this is maybe even a bit better than I expected when I first sat to watch.

In the wide strokes one can surely draw parallels between this picture and other wartime thrillers. A plan is set, and executed, and that's when everything goes haywire such that our heroes have to act on the fly; there will be revelations about characters, whether for each other or for the audience, and invariably some will live while others die. I think it's unfortunate in this instance that filmmaker Jean-Paul Salomé and co-writer Laurent Vachaud partly zeroed in on the idea for their narrative of women having "delicate sensibilities" ill-suited for war and action - by Jove, the entire history of civilization proves otherwise, and rightly or wrongly it comes across that Salomé and Vachaud are simply sexist. Between the writing and direction there are also instances when an inclusion feels like a choice of a "cool cinematic moment" rather than an earnest, meaningful reflection of the characters, let alone historical context (as one prime example, consider the last time we see Gaëlle). On the other hand, in other regards the screenplay is quite shrewd: in the latter half in particular the plot and scene writing get extra busy and messy (not helped by the swift pacing), but this actually seems rather on-point for the urgency of the tale, and its nastiness; war is never neat and clean, and World War II least of all. And by and large the story is smart and compelling, even if it's imperfect in discrete ways, and Salomé's direction is broadly capable.

To the credit of all involved 'Les femmes de l'ombre' carries some real thrills with it as things fall apart, and it's otherwise very well made in every capacity one would hope. Stunts, effects, and action sequences are no joke, and are as robust as in any comparable fare. The production design, filming locations, costume design, and hair and makeup are plainly outstanding; the cinematography and editing demonstrate a keen eye. Though the strength of the writing is variable, at its best it's sharp and piercing - and so is the acting. In some measure the performances are informed by that same straightforward tack that defines the storytelling generally, yet the very least that can be said is that the actors are pulling no punches, Sophie Marceau least of all. Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Déborah Francois, Maya Sansa, and all others on hand illustrate fine skills suiting the saga, as they've all proven elsewhere time and again. Really, more than not this is quite well done, and I'd actually like to say I enjoyed it more than I do. What I think it comes down to for me is that Salomé and Vachaud needed to rein in their impulses when it came to employing tropes (including even the last few minutes), or opting for bits that would look neat but sacrifice some verisimilitude, and instead intensify the violence and excitement the feature has to offer. Had the writing and direction spent more time latching onto the dire import and danger, and actualizing the stakes for the each character, the whole would have only benefited as it became more captivating of its own accord.

'Les femmes de l'ombre' is good, by all means, and I think it's worth watching. It perhaps just isn't as good as it could have been, and it isn't necessarily something one needs to go out of their way to see. Still, it's entertaining, and I'm glad that I took the time to check it out even if I see where it could have been improved. This isn't an absolute must-see, but it's a swell watch for something relatively modest in terms of viewer engagement, and deserves a look if you happen to come across it.