Les Femmes de l'ombre (2008)
Directed by Jean-Paul Salomé

Film Review

For all its stylistic bravado and sporadic bursts of ultra-violence, Les Femmes de l'ombre is essentially an old-fashioned war movie whose main raison d'être is to entertain rather than inform.  To its credit, the film does draw on real-life events (albeit very tangentially) and reminds us of the not inconsiderable part played by women in the fight against Fascism during the Second World War.  As an action thriller it has much to commend it.  The action scenes are directed with flair and convey a grimly visceral, adrenalin pumping sense of the heat of battle.  The attention to period detail is equally hard to fault and enthusiasts of classic war films will doubtless appreciate the ample references to the best American films of the genre.  If nothing else, the film shows that the French are just as capable of making a feisty, overblown war film as the dream merchants in Hollywood.

The attention grabbing cast-line up includes a posse of highly photogenic and talented actresses (Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain and Déborah François), all doing their damnedest to out-Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger in the vivid action scenes.  Whilst the film has its good points, it doesn't quite make the grade.  It's entertaining enough as a gutsy, mildly O.T.T. war film, but if you are looking for a serious wartime drama with well-drawn characters and real emotional impact you will probably have to look elsewhere.  Jean-Paul Salomé's mise-en-scène is far more focussed and restrained than on his previous action extravaganzas - Belphégor, Le fantôme du Louvre (2001) and Arsène Lupin (2004) - although the director's tendency to over-egg the pudding with exaggerated stylisation (including slow-motion and fades to monochrome) does get in the way of the drama and reduces the film to the level of an adolescent comic-book romp in places.
     
Given that Les Femmes de l'ombre is such an obvious rip-off of Ken Follett's novel Jackdaws it is surprising that Follett was not given an on-screen credit.  Another hard-to-overlook influence is Robert Aldrich's essential wartime classic The Dirty Dozen (1967) - the fact that one of the female combatants is a convicted murderer awaiting execution has been widely criticised as it diminishes the selfless heroism of those who fought in the French Resistance.  Generally, the characterisation is weak, undermined by some risible dialogue.  A case in point is the Nazis, who are reduced to their familiar screen stereotypes, although Moritz Bleibtreu manages to turn in a convincing and enigmatic performance as the coolly sadistic German officer Heindrich - he is easily the best thing about the film.

Generally, the quality of the acting is far less impressive than you might expect, given the pedigree of the cast, although this has more to do with the lacklustre screenwriting than the ability of the actors.  Julien Boisselier is a surprising (indeed daring) choice for the role of the resistance leader Desfontaines, an interesting example of casting against type that not only serves to humanise an unsympathetic character but also to make the female protagonists appear far stronger, physically and emotionally.  Sophie Marceau is an effective casting choice for the implacable resistance heroine, although her portrayal is again undermined by the inadequacies of a script that is far more concerned with making a bold visual statement than offering a convincing and moving account of wartime heroism.  Les Femmes de l'ombre isn't entirely satisfying but, by dint of its punchy mise-en-scène and charismatic performances, it manages to be a stylish and compelling modern war film - a long overdue reappraisal of the crucial role that women played in WWII.

Film Synopsis

France, on the eve of the allied invasion during WWII.  When her husband is killed whilst mounting an ambush against the Nazis, resistance member Louise leaves France and heads for Britain.  Here she meets up with her brother, Pierre, who persuades her to join a secret service unit charged with intelligence gathering and sabotage missions.  Her task is to recruit a commando team of young women for a special mission, which involves rescuing a British agent from a German hospital...