Nikita [La Femme Nikita] **** (1990, Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tchéky Karyo, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Reno) – Classic Movie Review 6,028

Anne Parillaud stars as the 20-year-old convicted dropout punkette Nikita, who thinks nothing of killing to get drugs and becomes a government assassin, in Luc Besson’s dark and trendy 1990 French neo noir thriller La Femme Nikita. 

Anne Parillaud stars as the 20-year-old convicted dropout punkette Nikita, who thinks nothing of killing to get drugs and becomes a government assassin, in writer-producer-director Luc Besson’s dark and trendy 1990 French neo noir thriller La Femme Nikita. It was a big hit in France and a cult film success elsewhere.

Nikita is arrested for a felony but, spared from going to jail, is reprogrammed with a new identity and trained to be an icy, top-secret government assassin spy. And then she falls in love with her superior, Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade).

Nikita is a stylish film that, like its heroine, lives on the edge. It is violent, tense and exciting. Besson shoots at bullet speed, unable to resist anything that is eye-catching. But it is Parillaud who keeps you believing in it and is convincing as a female killer handy with a gun. It is very smartly shot by cinematographer Thierry Arbogast.

Also in the cast are Tchéky Karyo as Bob, Jeanne Moreau as Amande, Jean Reno as Victor ‘The Cleaner’, Roland Blanche, Marc Duret, Philippe du Janerand, Philippe Leroy  as Grossman, Patrick Fontana, Alain Lathière, Laura Chéron, Jacques Boudet as The Chemist and Jean Bouise as embassy attaché.

Parillaud recalled: ‘For a while, she was in me like a demon.  I would do things I normally would not do. I hate guns, I hate violence, I hate judo. It never happens to me, this kind of story.’

Nikita is directed by Luc Besson, runs 117 minutes, is made by Gaumont, Les Films Du Loup, and Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica, is distributed by Gaumont (France) Penta Distribuzione (Italy), is written by Luc Besson, is shot by Thierry Arbogast, is produced by Patrice Ledoux and Jérôme Chalou, and is scored by Eric Serra.

It was remade in 1993 as Point of No Return [The Assassin] with Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Anne Bancroft, and Harvey Keitel as Victor ‘The Cleaner’ (Jean Reno’s role).

The Canadian five season, 96 episode TV series La Femme Nikita with Peta Wilson followed in 1997–2001.

Jean-Hugues Anglade (born 29 July 1955) is known for The Wounded Man, Subway, Killing Zoe, La Reine Margot, Nelly and M Arnaud. Betty Blue and Nikita.

Parillaud married Luc Besson in 1986, but separated shortly after he directed her in Nikita, and divorced 1991. Their daughter, Juliette Besson (born in 1987) also became an actress. Parillaud married Jean-Michel Jarre in In 2005, but they divorced in 2010. She stopped filming in 2012.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,028

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