Don't forget the femmes in screwball comedies, too. They're the comic cousins of femme fatales -- a world of trouble for the "male" lead, but with a happy ending. And I've included an homme fatale to spice things, up.
Some of my faves from both noirs and screwball comedies:
Barbara Stanwick - Double Indemnity, The Lady Eve
Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard
Anne Baxter - All About Eve... Poor Margo Channing.
Marlene Dietrich - The Blue Angel
Melanie Griffith - Something Wild
Jennifer Tilly - Bound... Interesting twist. She seduces Gina Gershon's Corky.
Rob Lowe - Bad Influence... He seduces James Spader's Michael.
Excluding the obvious Phyllis Dietrichson, for me it would have to be Veda Pierce. It's hard to forget a femme fatale who would violate and exploit the sacred bond between mother and daughter.
I watch her movies twice
just because she is so nice
Angelina
Angelina
the goddess of the cinamia
I'll eat cold and stale popcorn
in the theater till morn
Angelina
Angelina
the goddess of the cinamia
"I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
- Clive Barker, Galilee
I like all of the offerings, although I find it hard to picture a guy panting at the heels of Mildred Pierce. Veda Pierce, yes.
I'm surprised no one mentioned Marilyn Monroe in "Niagara."
I think Angelina Jolie has yet to play her definitive femme fatale role. It's obvious that she has that affect on men both on and off the screen, but wouldn't it be fun to see her playing a character who is aware of the affect she's having?
"Until the Lion writes his own story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." -African Proverb
Surprised no one's mentioned Scarlett O'Hara, especially when Brett drops her off at the party dress to kill in red.
Interesting to see that femme fatales is such a 40s, 50s thing. We don't really have true femme fatales these days. Femme Fatales have to allude to sex in return for favours done, even if they don't deliver - it's flirting on a primal level. Sex is just so readily available now that unless the woman is impossibly beautiful, most men would just move on to new pastures.
In Derailed, Jennifer Aniston's character is supposed to be a femme fatale. Laughable isn't it? It just doesn't work. Angelina Jolie is probably the only actress working today that could really pull off being a contemporary FF - that's because there's a darkness about her as well as a dangerous kind of sensual beauty.
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