Female Agents Reviews

Or, The Dowdy Half-Dozen? Female Agents shines some light on a rather unknown slice of World War Two history in which women were recruited and trained by the British government to act as spies in occupied France. Sophie Marceau's character was inspired by one such real life French agent named Lise de Baissac, one of only six women to be decorated with honors by the military during that war. While her backstory and future detailed in the epilogue are given a true account, what happens during the film is pure fiction! That's why her name was changed, since this mission never really occurred. Even so, the film capably presents a scenario that could have happened and thus offers an exciting couple hours of action and espionage as five women and their CO are dispatched to extract a disguised British geologist with knowledge of the imminent D-Day invasion from a German hospital. Torture scenes are wincing & convincing, as is Sophie with her stone-cold determination and ability to operate a sniper rifle. I also recommend you read the Telegraph's obituary on Lise de Baissac, who died in 2004 at age 98 and gave the director the idea for making this film. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1458206/Lise-Villameur.html

This is a WWII action/drama wherein a group French-speaking agents are tasked with rescuing a British agent, currently trapped in a French hospital. This agent has vital information about the upcoming D-Day invasion and with a German SS colonel in hot pursuit, the team which includes Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau), her brother Pierre (Julien Boisselier) along with their motley crew of female agents are tasked with the rescue.

Les Femmes de l'ombre is a more mainstream offering from France that harkens back to classic WWII mission films. Even though you know how the story is going to end the film still has a number of things going for it.

Despite the story's fast pace, the director is still able to explore the characters and their motivations. The acting is excellent: Julien Boisselier gives a nuanced performance as Pierre Desfontaines - he comes across as devil-may-care and sometimes callous but the interrogation scenes show just how much of a struggle he faces to be strong in the face of cruelty and pain. The other team members are inexperienced but chosen for specific abilities: Gaëlle (Déborah François) is good at making bombs but has never been on a mission, Suzy (Marie Gillain) has a previous liason with the German colonel and Jeanne (Julie Depardieu) is willing to kill (she was previously on death row).
But still, this is very much Sophie Marceau's movie - she is both luminous and tough - willing to do what is necessary but at the same time knowing that what she is asking of the other women might be more than what they can handle.

The special effects in creating wartime Paris are seamless that I felt that the production was able to work on the Paris streets but dress it up in the 1940s style.

It is these things that make up for the predictability of Les Femmes de l'ombre and makes for good viewing.

My only beef is that the tagline touts film as being 'based on true events'. This is misleading because it implies that the film's story actually happened. Instead it was inspired by the exploits of highly decorated SOE agent, Lisé de Baissac.