Angelina Jolie in The Tourist
The Femme Fatale is one of the oldest female character types around. Since the days of film noir, women have had their control over even the most powerful men.
This week, Angelina Jolie will be getting Johnny Depp twisted around her little finger in The Tourist.
She plays Elise, a woman who crosses the path of Frank (Depp) in order to mislead the agents following her former lover, who stole money from a gangster. Frank becomes involved and finds himself as a target in this tale of intrigue and deception.
Angelina Jolie seems the closest to the femme fatales of old, so this is a perfect fit for her. Especially when you consider she 'lured' Brad Pitt away from his wife Jennifer Aniston. But which other modern femme fatales have managed to make men fall apart at the seams?
Sharon Stone:
Basic Instinct is famous for two things: Sharon Stone's Catherine Trammell and THAT scene. Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is investigating the murder of rock star Manipulative and over the course of the film, becomes embroiled in a steamy affair with Trammell, who may or may not be involved in the murder.
Stone manages to control not only Douglas's character, but in one scene alone with nothing more than a movement of her legs, she manages to control an entire room of men. She makes pretty light work of it too. A true femme fatale.
Barbara Stanwyck:
Barbara Stanwyck plays the sultry Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity. The film is from 1944 and follows insurance salesman Walter Neff, who visits Dietrichson on a routine housecall, she asks how she could take out a life insurance policy on her husband without him knowing and this thrusts him into her plot to kill off her husband.
This was hailed as one of the top femme fatales of the 40s and 50s along with the Lana Turner in The Postman Alway Rings Twice. Both of which were based on books written by James M. Cain coincidentally.
Glenn Close:
Glenn Close appeared in Fatal Attraction as Alexandra Forrest, who has an affair with Michael Douglas's character Dan Gallagher.
Although she may not be the traditional femme fatale in the sense of empowerment, she seems weak and deranged.
It no less shows the power that a female can have over a male. Glenn Close won a Best Actress Oscar for her role.
Alex Forrest meets Gallagher and they have a fling over a weekend, which Gallagher sees as a fling but over the course of time, Forrest keeps trying to get back in his life which slowly gets more and more psychotic. She's the kind of woman who should not be messed with.
Jessica Rabbit:
Yes, she's a cartoon, but she's always the cause of trouble in some way or another. Of course, it's not her fault, she's just drawn that way.
Jessica Rabbit was supposedly based on a number of actresses which include Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake and is married to Roger Rabbit.
However, in every scene she appears, she manages to turn heads and distract even the most hardy of gentlemen. It's fair to say that, were she single, she'd be the most fatale of femmes.
The Tourist is released 10th December
FemaleFirst James Butlin
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