Les Braqueuses (1994)
Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé

Film Review

At first, it sounds like an interesting idea - four women reacting to a macho world by becoming macho themselves - but instead of developing the idea into something meaningful director Jean-Paul Salomé merely uses it as the pretext for a lame caper movie. Salomé's output to date has been pretty patchy, with most of his films showing a maximum of self-indulgent stylistic excess and a minimum of substance - as Belphégor - Le Fantôme du Louvre (2001) and Arsène Lupin (2004) amply bear out. His first feature, Les Braqueuses is somewhat less overblown but it feels just as contentless and puerile as the director's subsequent films.

The film's cheap thriller style certainly doesn't help. It looks like something along the lines of a trashy American teen movie, poorly written, badly directed and with totally unconvincing, unsympathetic performances.  It's grating, tedious and insulting, all at the same time.  However, what is really wrong is that the central idea itself is flawed, or, at the very least, horribly dated.  The reality is that women are starting to achieve equality with men, and they are doing this without resorting to the worst behaviours of their male counterparts.  Do women really want to see themselves as Arnold Schwarzenegger?  Do they really need to hold a gun to hold their own? Of course not - only an idiot would let the idea into his head.

Film Synopsis

Four childhood girlfriends decide to rebel.   They are: Cécile, a poorly paid teacher, Bijou, who has just been ditched by her boyfriend after giving birth, Muriel, who cares for her handicapped husband, and Lola, who has just left prison.  They decide to take to a life of crime - but only in their spare time.