Why don't we Americans appreciate the best we have to offer?
As I read the reviews I notice it's only the non-American movie lovers that understand just how original, creative and beautifully written and directed this film is. Why don't we Americans get it? It's the same with every aspect of our lives, political, artistic, scientific, or whatever. It's almost a perfect movie with only slight peccadilloes on Brian De Palma's part which are best left off to the viewer's imagination anyway.
The foolish old cliché, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is proven false here. A Bach fugue, a Shakespearean sonnet, a Homeric poem is beautiful whether or not anyone judges it to be by their own personal standards. And my son's watercolors aren't Picasso chefs-d'oeuvre even if I deceive myself otherwise. What a pity it's only the more aesthetically sophisticated Europeans and (by way of ancestry) their Latin and Eastern counterparts that appreciate the excellence and originality of "Femme Fatale." We Americans originated in Europe. The British, Irish, Jewish Europeans, French, Italian, etc etc know a work of art when they see or hear it. Only the non-progressive Americans are blinded into making such trivial remarks
Where do I begin? It would take a tome like Tolstoy's "War & Peace" to explain the details of plot, theme, direction, writing, all the things of which Brian De Palma was the source, to understand the coherence and successful execution of his ideas and concept into this movie. I was particularly impressed by the layers of dream as opposed to reality that the femme fatale" expressed in the plot, confusing the viewer until the end. But only the trite explorers for negative faux pas (things made wrong) - criticize the work here (in order to get attention and display their critical expertise). They don't offer thoughtful reasons for their negativity, instead of seeking positive examples to find fault with. If only they had the patience to sit quietly and watch, listen to and follow the story and its execution, than by the end of the movie they might better understand the futility in posting negative trivial criticisms of parts of this movie that were better off left to the imagination.
Oh, I only used french môts (words) to render respect for the francophile aspects of this movie, from its title to the country where the writer/director resides alongside other artistic American "émigrés" (pardon the redundancy). Okay, now those that might have been offended can issue forth their vengeful posts to slander a stranger. It's never amusing. Only productive thoughts that pertain to the issues at hand ever are. Voila.