LA FEMME NIKITA - DVD review

Accept no substitutes. No Hollywood remakes. No Hong Kong remakes. No watered-down TV series. Luc Besson's 1990 "La Femme Nikita" is the real thing, the movie that started it all.

After mild successes with "Final Combat" ("Le Dernier combat") and "Big Blue" ("Le Grand bleu") in 1983 and 1988, producer/writer/director Besson struck a chord worldwide with "La Femme Nikita." Like his later success, "The Professional" ("Leon") in 1994, "Nikita" nicely balances characterization with action. It is ultraviolent in several scenes, to be sure, but it never strays too far from the heart of its protagonist. With a good cast, slick production values, and gritty action, it passes an enjoyable two hours.

The movie's premise is intriguing but wholly nonsensical. It suggests that the French government, and presumably any government, would choose an unstable, psychotic, maladjusted, teenage killer to train as a spy and assassin. Well, maybe that's what it takes to work for the government, I don't know, but if we suspend our disbelief for a few minutes and go with it, the rest of the story line falls neatly into place.

Anne Parillaud plays a young woman named Nikita St. Denis; she's a nineteen-year-old punk druggie who is shown in the opening scene brutally murdering a policeman in cold blood. She gets caught and for her offense gets life in prison. Ah, but a government recruiter (somewhat like the Al Pacino character in "The Recruit") called "Uncle Bob" (Tcheky Karyo) sees a certain potential in the girl and offers her freedom in exchange for her consent to be programmed as an assassin. What choice does she have? But why her?

The government arranges for her supposed death and resurrection as a totally new person, but not without three full years of training and indoctrination first, during which time the bedraggled guttersnipe is (a la Liza Doolittle) turned into a beautiful, graceful, and resourceful new person, albeit a government agent. There is also an echo of "A Clockwork Orange" in here somewhere, but the hints are too vague to consider. When she is finally released to the outside world, she is to be forevermore at the beck and call of the top-secret Agency she works for.

The first half of the movie describes her capture and training; the second half recounts several of her assignments and her love affair with a grocery clerk. Needless to say, too, there is more than one love interest for her: Uncle Bob in a covert, unintended way and Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade) in a more overt manner. Marco becomes her fiancée, and she tells him stories of her working nights in a hospital. It doesn't take long for her and the audience to recognize, however, that there is little room for love in her new job. Her first allegiance must always be the Agency.

Parillaud is fine as the lost soul whose life is turned upside down, but she is hardly a sympathetic character. When we know from the outset she is oblivious to the feelings of other human beings, we can never accept that she is able to make a turnaround afterwards. Still, Ms. Parillaud exudes with equal conviction a responsive empathy and an obvious sensuality together with a bitter resentment and a cold calculation. We can't root for her, but we don't exactly hate her, either. Also in the cast are Jeanne Moreau as Amande, an Agency operative who teaches Nikita grace, poise, and feminity; and one of Besson's favorite actors, Jean Reno, as Victor, "the cleaner," a ruthless gunman who will at first elicit a smile and then a degree of revulsion. It is a caricature, true, but it would be enough to inspire the more complete and believable character of "Leon" several years later.

Above all, though, it is the movie's action sequences that keep audiences coming back for repeat visits. These scenes are brutally, realistically violent, yet they are wholly absurd at the same time. A shoot-out in a pharmacy, a stabbing with a pencil, a killing and subsequent chase through a restaurant, and several other such episodes culminate in a harrowing, penultimate confrontation. And the film is not without its surprises, as Nikita's first assignment proves, nor is it without its moments of tenderness, like one where Uncle Bob makes up a story for Marco about Nikita's childhood, a childhood that never was but might have been, had she been raised differently. After her return to civilian life, Nikita learns for the very first time what it's like to be normal, yet she is anything but normal and never will be.

The movie is thankfully free of too many quick edits, but Besson's camera is almost constantly in motion, with long shots, overhead shots, and sometimes bizarre angles the norm. What's more, the screen is endlessly awash in moody, atmospheric colors that are as much a part of one's film-watching enjoyment as the plot or characters. In the end, "La Femme Nikita" is more than a mere action flick and even presents its viewers with some interestingly tangled moral dilemmas. The film is hardly high art or intellectual philosophy, but it's worth one's time.

Video:
Besson uses a full palette of attractive neon-flavored colors in the film. There are weird blue and green tints in almost every scene, and they transfer well to DVD. Most hues are deep, bright, and natural, providing a visual treat for the eyes. Object delineation is only about average, though, for good disc reproduction these days, and some fluttering lines are in evidence in rows of drawers and the like. Moreover, grain is almost nonexistent, even in dark, outdoor shots, the screen staying admirably clean and clear most of the time.

Audio:
The original stereo sound has been remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1, and while it is sharply focused and strongly dynamic, it does not do much for the surrounds. Dialogue is rendered well, gunshots ring out loudly and crisply, and left-to-right front stereo spread is fine. But don't expect much more than some mild musical ambience reinforcement in the rear speakers and the occasional squeal of a tire or ricochet of a bullet.

Extras:
This new edition is by my count the third or fourth incarnation of "La Femme Nikita" on DVD. The first release was a regular edition from Trimark in 1997; the second was a regular edition from MGM in 2000. The film was also made available in 2001 in a big package of six Luc Besson films. Now, the latest from MGM is a Special Edition that is the first to offer all the bonus items listed below. The bonuses, frankly, don't amount to much, but who's to look a gift horse in the mouth?

Most important among the extras is a newly made documentary, "Revealed: The Making of La Femme Nikita," which lasts about twenty minutes. It is comprised mainly of interviews with various cast members as they reminisce about and comment on the making of the film. Next is a four-minute featurette, "The Sound of Nikita," in which composer Eric Serra explains some of his music for the film. After that is a series of brief bits called "Programming Nikita: An Interactive Map," taking us into Nikita's training room, vanity room, and bedroom. In addition, there are thirty-two scene selections, a poster gallery, a widescreen theatrical trailer, several trailers for other MGM DVDs, and an advertised Easter egg.

The disc thankfully defaults to an original French language track with English subtitles, but for those who object to reading while watching, there is an English dub available, too. For the few minutes I listened to it, it sounded awful. French and Spanish subtitles are also on hand for the having.

Parting Thoughts:
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in which case "La Femme Nikita" has been sincerely flattered, indeed. Chinese director Stephen Shin turned it into "Black Cat" ("Hei mao") in 1991; English-born filmmaker John Badham made it into "Point of No Return" in 1993; and the USA cable network broadcast the TV series from 1997-2001 (and true to Hollywood tradition, changed the heroine into a longhaired blonde). None of the remakes had the feel, the excitement, or the pluck of the original.

"La Femme Nikita" is not a high-water mark in the action genre; its premise alone is too preposterous for that. But it should keep action fans engrossed in its edgy conflicts and frictional character relationships, while holding up well to repeat viewing.