In times of war, heroism is not just for men.
May 1944. A five-woman commando unit parachutes into occupied France on a daring and dangerous mission to protect the secret of the D-Day Landings and eliminate Colonel Heindrich (Moritz Bleibtreu), the head of the German counter-intelligence.
Louise (Sophie Marceau) is a trained sniper and the widow of a Resistance leader.
Jeanne (Julie Depardieu) is a tough hooker who won't hesitate to kill.
Gaëlle (Déborah François) is a young and brilliant explosives expert desperate to see some action.
Suzy (Marie Gillain) is a stunning former showgirl and Heindrich's one-time lover.
Maria (Maya Sansa) is an Italian contessa undercover with the French Resistance.
Based on true events, true stories and real heroines, Female agents (Les femmes de l'ombre) is an action-packed and powerful tribute to the brave female World War II Resistance fighters, who were constantly in the shadow of men yet had an undeniably profound impact on the events of the war.
Special Agent Matti
Female agents (Les femmes de l'ombre) is a middle-of-the-road presentation of an off-road adventure. It's all very "Listen carefully, I will only say this once" even though there's plenty of hit-shoot-stab-kill going on (with blood). Had this been a boy-commando mission it would've been much more violent and there might've been room for some rooting but it's a girl-commando mission (and a true one at that) so there's more talking and thinking than there is hitting things. Not that men are all violent thugs but we do like to hit things. (It stems from our days on the savannah when things were all for hitting: wildebeest for food, tigers for survival, women for rooting and then some bright spark hit a rock with another rock and invented fire - hooray!) (See Band of brothers)
Meanwhile, this film is a good witnessing of the things that women did to win the war that helped further the cause of female emancipation. Two generations of warfare makes it hard to put Pandora back in the box and good on 'em, I say. Now we have twice as many people to do men's work. ;) Even though there are more tears (not to mention hairstyles) these women have the right stuff and manage to get the job done so another Nazi bastard bites the dust. That's a good thing in anyone's book.
The true, war movie Female agents (Les femmes de l'ombre) is directed by Jean-Paul Salome and stars Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain.
MA 15+ (Strong violence and themes)
117 minutes (1:57 hours)
Film: 7 August 2008
