La Femme Nikita,[lower-alpha 1] also called Nikita in France, is a 1990 French-language action thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Anne Parillaud as the title character, a criminal who is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering policemen during an armed pharmacy robbery. Her government handlers fake her death and recruit her as a professional assassin. After intense training, she starts a career as a killer, where she struggles to balance her work with her personal life. She shows talent at this and her career progresses until a mission in an embassy goes awry.
Nikita was commercially successful, but received mixed reviews from critics. It was remade as Black Cat (1991) in Hong Kong, Point of No Return (1993) in Hollywood, and in Bollywood as Kartoos (1999). Two English-language television series were produced based on the film, La Femme Nikita (1997–2001) and Nikita (2010–2013).
Plot
Nikita is a nihilistic teenage junkie who commits her life to anarchy, drugs and violence. One night, she participates in the robbery of a pharmacy owned by a friend's parents. The robbery erupts into a gunfight with local police, and her accomplices are killed. Suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, she murders a police officer. Nikita is arrested, tried, and convicted of murder, and is sentenced to life in prison.
In prison, government officials fake her death, making it appear that she has committed suicide, and remove her from prison. She awakens in a nondescript room, where a well-dressed, hard-looking man named Bob tells her that, although officially dead and buried, she is in the custody of a shadowy government agency known as "the Centre" (possibly part of the DGSE). She is given the choice of becoming an assassin, or of occupying "row 8, plot 30", her fake grave.[3] After some resistance, she chooses the former and gradually proves to be a talented killer. She is taught computer skills, martial arts, and firearms. One of her trainers, Amande, transforms her from a degenerate drug addict to a beautiful femme fatale. Amande implies that she also was rescued and trained by the Centre.
Nikita's initial mission, killing a foreign diplomat in a crowded restaurant and escaping from his well-armed bodyguards to the Centre, doubles as the final test in her training. She graduates and begins life as a sleeper agent in Paris (under the name Marie). After meeting Marco in a supermarket, the two develop an intimate relationship, although he knows nothing of her real work. Marco is curious about her past and why she has no family or other friends. Nikita invites Bob to dinner as "Uncle Bob". He tells stories about "Marie"'s imaginary childhood and give the couple tickets for a trip to Venice, purportedly as an engagement gift.
Nikita and Marco go on the trip. As they prepare to make love after arrival, the phone rings. She thinks it's the room service they just ordered, but it is instructions for her next job. Her room is perfectly located for her to shoot the target. She goes to the bathroom, supposedly to take a bath, and as she prepares the rifle, Marco tries to talk to her through the door. The instructions about her target take longer than expected and she can't answer him. She finally shoots her target but barely conceals the rifle before Marco walks in, against her wishes. Nikita is distraught that her work has caused them difficulties.
Still, her career as an assassin goes well until a document-theft mission in an embassy goes awry. Back in Paris, the Centre sends in Victor "The Cleaner", a ruthless operative, to salvage the mission and destroy all the evidence of the foul-up. When another operative is killed by Victor, Nikita is assigned to take his place. They nearly complete the mission before it goes bad. Victor takes on a bunch of guards before being fatally wounded, but drives Nikita to safety before succumbing to his wounds.
Marco reveals that he has discovered Nikita's secret life, and, concerned over how her activities are affecting her psychologically, persuades her to disappear. Upon discovering that she abandoned the Centre, Bob goes to their apartment and meets with Marco. When Bob says that Nikita is at risk because she still has the documents taken from the embassy, Marco hands them over. The two men agree that they will both miss Nikita.
(As this was Bouise's last film and he had starred in previous films by this director, Besson dedicated La Femme Nikita to him.)
Production
Based on the success of Le Grand Bleu, Gaumont agreed to finance Nikita without having seen a script. Nikita cost 39 million francs to make, and was a co-production between Besson's company Les Films du Loup, Gaumont, and Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematographica.[4]
Release
Nikita premiered in Paris at the Grand Rex on 21 February 1990.[5][6] On its first week in Paris, the film had 113,900 spectators.[7] By the year 2000, the film had 828,867 spectators in Paris.[7]
Following the premiere, the film was distributed to 15 towns in France, with Besson to promote it and have discussions with audiences after the screenings.[5] Other cast and crew members on the tour included Éric Serra, Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade and occasionally Tchéky Karyo.[5] The film had 3,787,845 spectators in France by 2000.[7] It was the fourth highest-grossing film in France for 1990, but was not as popular as Besson's previous film The Big Blue (1988).[8]
After Nikita's release in France, it was released in over 95 countries.[5] Gaumont handled the sales of distribution rights separately; distribution rights were sold to Columbia Pictures and the remake rights were sold to Warner Bros.[9]Nikita was shown in Montreal, Canada in 1990.[10] The film was very popular in Montreal, where distributor Didier Farre noted that the film was beaten only by Bird on a Wire and Back to the Future Part III in June 1990.[10] In Britain, the film became the highest weekly box office ever for a French film, and it was also popular in the box office in Italy and Japan.[11]
It was released in the United States in 1991.[7] The film had a six-month theatrical run in the United States where it reached an audience of 1.15 million.[8] By the end of the year, the film was the third highest-grossing French film production in the United States.[8] Besson thought that the film was inappropriately promoted in the United States, saying that "Nikita is an action film but was released in American art houses. The Big Blue has the same problem, released in the United States as an intellectual work, and attracting the wrong audience."[12]
Reception
In France, the popular press reception to the film was mixed.[5] Monthly film journals were more favourable, while the more serious journals were predominantly negative.[5] Reviews from Le Nouvel Observateur, Libération, Le Figaro and Le Journal du Dimanche gave the film positive reviews, where they all appreciated Besson's film noir styled film and were surprised at Parillaud's acting in a demanding role.[13] In contrast, the film was dismissed in reviews from L'Humanité, L'événement du jeudi, Le Monde, Le Parisien, and La Croix, who found the film resembled a commercial advertisement visually and psychologically had the depth of a comic strip.[13]
Speaking of the film's critical reception in France, Besson noted he would not talk to the press, saying that he would want to "count on them to help me, to help me evaluate my own work". He said that "critics should be looking towards the future, but in France, all they want to talk about is the past."[10]
I don't have much belief in the sincerity of critics, I believe in the sincerity of someone who goes to a film, pays his ticket and comes out saying what he thinks because he has nothing to gain by doing so. The critics defend an ideology, their age, their profession, a lot of things that don't interest me.
Paris critic Marc Esposito of Studio responded to Besson's statements, describing Besson as someone who "thinks he's a nice guy, and everyone around him is evil. We are all guilty of not adoring Luc Besson."[12]
The film received mixed reviews outside France.[14] On Metacritic, the overall score from 14 critics is 56 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15] However, on Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 44 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A zany out-of-control thriller that gives lead Anne Parillaud a big character arc and plenty of emotional room to work in".[16] A number of critics, including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, positively reviewed the film.[17][18]
When asked about a follow-up to Nikita, Anne Parillaud said that she was not interested in a sequel. She said: "If the film was a failure, would you have had anything more to say about her? No. Of course not."[21]
La Femme Nikita was remade in Hong Kong as the action film Black Cat directed by Stephen Shin in 1991.[22]
It was remade in Hollywood as Point of No Return by John Badham in 1993.[22] This was part of a trend in the late 1980s and early 1990s for Hollywood to remake French films.[23]Daily Variety noted that between 1987 and 1993, Hollywood remade seventeen contemporary French films, which had been released in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.[23] The remakes were generally initiated by the French films and, given the size of the American market, often make more money for their directors as American adaptations than they do as original films in France.[24]
A Canadian TV series based on the film, titled La Femme Nikita, premiered in 1997. It was produced in Canada by Fireworks Entertainment.[25] The developer Joel Surnow, who described himself as "devotee of Besson's film", has repeatedly said in interviews that the series is modelled explicitly after Besson's film and not the American remake. He said that he had never seen Point of No Return.[24]
The premiere episode of the series borrows scenes from Besson's film, with Variety noting that it was a scene-by-scene re-creation of the kitchen restaurant scene.[25] Several lead roles in the series parallel those of the film: Roy Dupuis plays Nikita's trainer Michael, who was called Bob in Besson's film, and Alberta Watson is Madeline, who is similar to the character played by Jeanne Moreau in Besson's film.[25]
In 2010, The CW picked up a new series, Nikita, with Maggie Q as a Nikita who has gone rogue.[26]
Influences
Other films that La Femme Nikita has influenced include The Villainess (2017), a South Korean film.[27][28]
↑ French pronunciation:[lafamnikita], literally "The Woman Nikita"
Related Research Articles
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Léon: The Professional is a 1994 English-language French action-thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson. It stars Jean Reno and Gary Oldman, and features the film debut of Natalie Portman. The plot centers on Léon (Reno), a professional hitman who reluctantly takes in twelve-year-old Mathilda Lando (Portman) after her family are murdered by corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent Norman Stansfield (Oldman). Léon and Mathilda form an unusual relationship, as she becomes his protégée and learns the hitman's trade. The film was released in France by Gaumont and internationally through Gaumont Buena Vista International on 14 September 1994, and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Luc Paul Maurice Besson is a French filmmaker. He directed or produced the films Subway (1985), The Big Blue (1988), and La Femme Nikita (1990). Associated with the Cinéma du look film movement, he has been nominated for a César Award for Best Director and Best Picture for his films Léon: The Professional (1994) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film The Fifth Element (1997). He wrote and directed the 2014 sci-fi action film Lucy and the 2017 space opera film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
The Fifth Element is a 1997 English-language French science fiction action film conceived and directed by Luc Besson, as well as co-written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, and Chris Tucker. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. To accomplish this, Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against the impending attack of a malevolent cosmic entity.
Point of No Return is a 1993 American action film directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda and Gabriel Byrne. It is a remake of Luc Besson's 1990 film La Femme Nikita.
Anne Parillaud is a French actress who has been active since 1977. She is best known internationally for playing the title character in Luc Besson's film La Femme Nikita.
Éric Serra is a French composer. He is a frequent collaborator of film director Luc Besson.
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc is a 1999 English-language French epic historical drama film directed by Luc Besson and starring Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman. The screenplay was written by Besson and Andrew Birkin, and the original score was composed by Éric Serra.
Nikita may refer to:
La Femme Nikita is a Canadian action-drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series stars Peta Wilson as the title character. It was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow. The series was telecast in the United States on the USA Network cable channel on January 13, 1997, and ran for five seasons until March 4, 2001. The series was also aired in Canada on the over-the-air CTV Television Network. La Femme Nikita was the highest-rated drama on American basic cable during its first two seasons. It was also distributed in some other countries.
Cinéma du look was a French film movement of the 1980s and 1990s, analysed, for the first time, by French critic Raphaël Bassan in La Revue du Cinéma issue no. 449, May 1989, in which he classified Luc Besson, Jean-Jacques Beineix and Leos Carax as directors of the "look".
The 16th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, honoured the best French films of 1990 and took place on 9 March 1991 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The ceremony was chaired by Sophia Loren and hosted by Richard Bohringer. Cyrano de Bergerac won the award for Best Film.
Colombiana is a 2011 French English-language action thriller film co-written and produced by Luc Besson and directed by Olivier Megaton. The film stars Zoe Saldaña with supporting roles by Michael Vartan, Cliff Curtis, Lennie James, Callum Blue, and Jordi Mollà. The term "Colombiana" means a woman from Colombia. The film is about Cataleya, a nine-year-old girl in Colombia whose family is killed by a drug lord. Fifteen years later, a grown Cataleya seeks her revenge.
Shattered Image is a 1998 surreal thriller film written by Duane Poole and directed by Chilean filmmaker Raúl Ruiz. It stars William Baldwin, Anne Parillaud and Lisanne Falk.
Frankie Starlight is a 1995 drama–romantic war film directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. The screenplay was written by Ronan O'Leary and Chet Raymo, based on the internationally best-selling novel The Dork of Cork by Raymo.
"Pilot" is the series premiere of the American television series Nikita. It premiered in the United States on The CW Television Network on September 9, 2010. The episode was written by series creator Craig Silverstein and directed by Danny Cannon.
Black Cat is a 1991 Hong Kong action film directed and produced by Stephen Shin. The film stars Jade Leung as Catherine who accidentally kills a truck driver. After escaping trial, she is captured by medics who insert a "Black Cat" chip into her brain putting her under the complete control of the American CIA. The CIA makes her into a new CIA agent known as Erica.
The Villainess is a 2017 South Korean action thriller film directed by Jung Byung-gil, starring Kim Ok-vin. The film had its world premiere at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May 2017.
Anna is a 2019 action thriller film written, produced and directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Sasha Luss as the eponymous assassin, alongside Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren, and Alexander Petrov.
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