In Brian de Palma's "FEMME FATALE", Antonio Banderas is paparazzi photographer 'Nicolas', love-struck by a beautiful woman 'Laure' (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). Obsessively snapping pix of the object of his desire, his photos unwittingly blow the cover of Laure, who was previously a ruthless jewel thief, involved in a diamond heist at the Cannes film festival before assuming her new life and identity.
Director De Palma's last take on a 'voyeuristic' theme was "Body Double". He is also noted as an iconic genre director for his classic adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie" and for his work with collaborator Paul Williams in the satiric "Phantom of the Paradise." He has long been a devotee of Hitchcock's suspense, but in "FEMME FATALE" pays specific tribute to 'film noir' classics of the 1940s including "The Maltese Falcon", "The Big Sleep" and "Double Indemnity".
"I usually write scripts that are driven by a visual idea, or by a very interesting story idea that lends itself to all kinds of visual stages. I feel I'm a visual stylist ..." says De Palma. "Obviously in the beginning of cinema there was no dialogue. Directors learned to tell stories in a series of pictures. And I think it can be the most effective, emotional compelling, beautiful, scary way to use the form."
