Joseph Price (Colin Firth) was once a painter but now he is the world’s least likely park ranger. One day, he meets the beautiful and mysterious Cynthia (Lisa Zane). Within days, Joe and Cynthia are married but one morning, Joe wakes up to discover that Cynthia is gone and she has only left behind a brief note. Searching for his wife, Joe goes to Los Angeles and discovers how little he knew about Cynthia. Joe’s search eventually leads him into the world of porn, drugs, S&M, and performance art.
This month, every entry in Movie A Day has had a least one Twin Peaks connection. Femme Fatale has two. Joe’s best friend, a laid back artist who is usually seen painting a topless woman who sometimes wears a brown bag over her head, is played by Billy Zane, who appeared as John Justice Wheeler during the second season of Twin Peaks. Also, Catherine Coulson (the show’s famous Log Lady) appears as a nun who provides an important clue to Cynthia’s past.
Femme Fatale used to show up on HBO in the 1990s and it is currently on YouTube. It may not be a great film but it does have a good cast. Along with Billy Zane and Coulson, Femme Fatale also features Scott Wilson as a shady psychologist, Lisa Blount as an actress who used to work with Cynthia, and Pat Skipper and John Lavachielli as two talkative thugs named Ed and Ted. Both Carmine Caridi and the great Danny Trejo show up in small roles. It may seem strange to cast the very British Colin Firth as a park ranger but it works. As for Lisa Zane, who is Billy’s older sister, Cynthia was probably her best role.
Predictable though the movie may be, Femme Fatale is enjoyably stupid if you are in the right mood. There should always be a time and place for the old neo noirs of 1990s.
Through the Shattered Lens 