MovieChat Forums > La fille coupée en deux (2007) Discussion > Why is the 'femme fatale' so plain in lo...

Why is the 'femme fatale' so plain in looks and personality?

posted 12 years ago by jimparrett
10 replies | jump to latest

While watching this, I couldn't reconcile Gabrielle's homely looks and dull personality with the men who so ardently pursue her. Chabrol gives Saint-Denis a gorgeous wife and a succulent publisher in Capucine but Saint-Denis goes for the rather homely Gabrielle. I don't understand the casting choice. The attraction of older men for younger women usually doesn't involve unattractive prey, especially when those around the hunter are foxes.

[–] jharmon64 12 years ago

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

She's cute in a unique way.

Many find her attractive.

[–] skay_baltimore 11 years ago

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

She's cute in a unique way.

Many find her attractive.

That's the way I saw her. I've seen her in other films and it's her attitude as much as her physical beauty that makes her attractive, at least to me.

"Love isn't what you say or how you feel, it's what you DO". (The Last Kiss)

[–] PoppyTransfusion 12 years ago

She's attractive and bright and shiny like a new button. Her character is vacuous, I agree, but maybe that was part of the point ..? (I'm being generous.)

I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

[–] TheDurangoKid 11 years ago

I thought the same. She was just average in looks, personality, intelligence, dress sense - you name it. But she did look good in the final scene as the "glamorous assistant".
She was the opposite of a femme fatale. She was supposed to be Snow White - hence her surname "snow", her blonde hair and her innocent/vacuous look. Her role in the screenplay is to be corrupted by the lecher and marry the immature control freak whom she does not love.
I don't see why the great Chabrol bothered to make this insipid film.

[–] TheDurangoKid 11 years ago

My edit was just to correct a typo. But having read a few other threads now, I retract my description of "insipid". There are many subtleties that I did not think about sufficiently. But the fact remains that on the surface few of the characters seem interesting. Nor does the seemingly cliched plot.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

I'm slowly coming round to the idea that there is a level of experience this film connects with that is lost on me. It seems to reach some posters and there are many positive reviews written about the film. I think the word insipid is an apt word when there is a loss of connection.

Fatima had a fetish for a wiggle in her scoot

[–] elijaprice 11 years ago

I wouldn't call her "plain", I think she's quite attractive, but yeah, Mathilda May is smoking hot in this movie, I don't care how old she is.

Quite a few French films seem to be about 50-something men having affairs with 20-something women - I don't know if this is a French thing, or it's because French films tend to be made by 50-something men, lol.

[–] johnklem 11 years ago

Or perhaps it's that they're not made by sexually repressed American teenage boys...

[–] takealiberty1 10 years ago

Gabrielle is meant evoke purity. She's a novelty to a jaded old man who been there and done that who has a beautiful wife who, to the outside world, gives him the 'accepted' vision of what his life should be.

In France I believe it is the 'norm' to have extramarital affairs, at least they are tolerated, unlike in the UK and probably the States. So with his fame and fortune, the old guy can 'play' with the pretty little things that he is attracted to. She was probably awestruck by the attention of an older man, given that she didn't have a dad and she was taught the ways of love and so felt special. Nothing new there. He wasn't attracted to her (non) 'personality', just needed kicks to feel alive/young, I suppose.

The film didn't explore any new concepts, I was rather intrigued, if you can call it that, by the younger guy, whose character wasn't really explored enough. He also had everything - and nothing. Perhaps he wanted Gabrielle because he could never really have her, and maybe he was guilt ridden for killing his little brother and needed to atone for it in some way.

It was watchable, but not memorable - but typically French.

[–] Just_Alex 10 years ago

I don't think Gabrielle/Ludivine is plain, I think her face may not be beautiful, but she is cute, even pretty, her body is amazing, and her personality is very lovely, I don't think she is supposed to be a femme fatale. It´s the two guys that make things bleaker with their rivalry. The writer only wants her back as soon as he learns that Gabrielle will marry the rich boy, and the rich boy loses his mind when he knows about Gabrielle's sex life with the writer.

Bottom line, Gabrielle is not a femme fatale, she is kinda innocent and sweet until she meets the two guys.

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