People in the Movie: Anne Parillaud, Tcheky Karyo, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Director: Luc Besson
Pigeonhole: Action / Drama
The Basics: A foreign film about a teenage junkie named Nikita (Parillaud) who kills a policeman in a robbery-gone-bad, and is subsequently sentenced to death. She is instead recruited by French Intelligence to train to become an assassin, or she can chose to have her death sentence carried out. She reluctantly agrees and after proving her abilities her superior, Bob (Karyo), she is released on her own as a sleeper agent. Balancing a “normal life” with her boyfriend (Anglade) and the hard edge of her “job” fills out the remainder of the film. Language spoken is French.
Recommendation: A great movie to see, even if you are not a foreign film fan. You will be treated to a good mix of story, action, and wholly believable character building. 'R' rating is for violence, and drug use.
My Take: **spoiler alert** The plot is very basic, and where this movie succeeds, in my opinion, is that depth to which Nikita is developed. Early on we see her pure defiance and anger, but then we see hints of almost civility, playfulness and humor when she is being trained, and later a shy awkwardness when she meets her boyfriend Marco. But underlying these “human” characteristics we also see what she was recruited for – hard, cold instinct. Even though we should “hate” Nikita, a cop-killing junkie who is now training to be an even better killer, there is something we are meant to like, or at least relate to when we are shown her vulnerable side. It is also not lost on us that Bob, the smug, mentor-type boss, appears to have deeper feelings for Nikita than a superior in this agency should.
One my favorite sequences in the film is Bob taking Nikita out to a fancy restaurant, and while she initially thinks it is a reward, the evening out is her final test as a trainee. She must assassinate someone in the restaurant, and escape. All does not go smoothly, but that is what makes this film so entertaining, watching Nikita at work.
Another great scene is when we see Nikita looking through a rifle scope to shoot another target, while locked in a bathroom. On the other side of the door Marco (who does not know of Nikita’s “profession”) is professing his love - while tears now stream down Nikita’s face, torn between the passion and connection to her boyfriend and the cold calculation to kill another human. As with most foreign films, the ending is not “Hollywood”.
Final Thought/Extras/For Fun: The title as was released is ‘Nikita’, the title as release in the US is ‘La Femme Nikita’…Jean Reno has a small part in Nikita , his name is Victor “the Cleaner”; and then in Leon -The Professional, also a Luc Besson film, he refers to his hit-man job as being a “cleaner”… The American remake/reboot of this film is called Point of No Return (1993)… There is a Hong Kong action film called Black Cat (1991) that follows the story line… 2 TV shows are based on the story; La Femme Nikita, and Nikita…
Original Movie poster :
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