Luc Besson’s Thriller With the Most Badass Female Lead Comes as Reddit’s Choice
The director’s fans can see the origin of his cultish heroines here.
As one of the most commercially successful directors in movie history, Luc Besson made his name known all around the world. However, even if you’re a fan of his works, you may have missed his thriller that was a sensation back in 1990.
Moreover, it presented a new type of a female leading character that influenced not only other filmmakers, but also Besson’s Leon (1994) and The Fifth Element (1997).
The film’s plot revolves around a reckless junkie whose life is resolved, but rather in a bad way. She gets caught by the police during a robbery, but instead of letting her die in jail they remove her from it and make her an offer she can’t refuse.
The woman is forced to become an assassin and then gradually proves to be extremely talented at it. However, when she starts this career, she finds it tough to balance between her bloody missions and personal life, as she falls in love with a man who is unaware of the fact she is leading a double life.
Cinema lovers can guess this synopsis is nothing new to the 21st century movies about female secret agents struggling to continue being an assassin. In this respect you can recall such spy flicks, as Charlize Theron ’s Atomic Blonde (2017), Jennifer Lawrence ’s Red Sparrow (2018) and, besides, Anna (2019), that were all influenced by Besson’s thriller.
The main heroine, portrayed by Anne Parillaud, appears to be both determined, courageous and, of course, fierce, but also tender and devoted to her close one. She becomes really reminiscent of Milla Jovovich’s Leelo and Natalie Portman ’s Mathilda.
Titled La Femme Nikita after the killer’s name, this film was a back-then commercial and critical success, and it’s proved by its decent score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
There is no doubt this movie influenced not only female-led flicks, but the thriller genre as a whole too.
“So many modern crime film tropes came from this one. But in this one, back in the day, it was all surprising,” fairly admits Redditor @kings2leadhat.
Check out how badass Besson's heroine is in this worth-watching thriller, as La Femme Nikita is available for streaming on Prime.