New movie is art, not action

There's enough complexity and sexuality in Femme Fatale to make most viewers want to see it again and again. Director Brian De Palma (The Untouchables, Scarface and Body Double) returns to the artistic level to which he was once accustomed, making a movie that is surprising, stimulating and vivid to the eye. He provides viewers with food for thought, and while it is not his best film ever, viewers will not be disappointed. They should just remember that DePalma is not a typical everyday director, and an open mind is required. The movie begins with a heist at the Cannes Film Festival. Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) poses as a photographer to gain entrance to a gala screening where she's supposed to con actress Veronica (Rie Rasmussen) out of a diamond-encrusted snake "blouse" and slip it to Black Tie (Eriq Ebouaney). The split-second timing almost goes according to plan, but there's a glitch. Black Tie is caught, and although Laure escapes, the other members of the gang won't just let her slip away. She finds an unexpected way out when she is mistaken for a woman who could be her twin. All she has to do is take advantage of the other woman's passport and airplane ticket to America, and she'll be on the road to a new life. But Laure finds that she can't escape her wicked past, especially when a broke tabloid photographer, Nicolas Bardo (Antonio Banderas), starts tracking her. It will take all her ingenuity, seductive charm and immorality for her to regain her freedom. Romijn-Stamos seems to make the big leap here from model to movie star. She seizes and holds the screen when she is on it, proving herself to be a potent force, something many other models have been hard-pressed to do. Femme Fatale is one of those movies for people who love visual craft, since it contains nearly all of the styles in the book - slow motion, split screen, use of shadows, reflections and more. While this film is not for the popcorn crowd or the pure action fan who only goes for the explosions, anyone who appreciates film in its purest form will love it. Femme Fatale is now showing at Downtown West. Rating: A