Definitive Gaze

De Palma has talked about this conundrum since he began directing. And he always hauls out David Lean as the example of a director who balanced strong visual sequences with character development. But today, he doesn‘t leave it at that: ”I think that because visual sequences connect with audiences more strongly than anything else, they will always overwhelm the dramatic material. You’re exhilarated by the visual storytelling, and then the characters start talking about who they are and it‘s a letdown. That’s the problem as I think about it now.“

If De Palma hasn‘t solved the problem in Femme Fatale, he has created, for the first time, a female character worth rooting for. Maybe having two daughters (now ages 6 and 11) has given him a different perspective on female agency. Or maybe, as Julie Salamon, the author of The Devil’s Candy, believes, his outlook is less bleak now that he‘s less dependent on the studios. For her book, De Palma allowed Salamon unguarded access to the making of his disastrous Bonfire of the Vanities, even though he knew her book could make life difficult for him in Hollywood -- and it did.

”Life has always been such a struggle for Brian,“ says Salamon. ”It’s been this weird balancing act -- trying to be in the industry, but not of it. He has a unique vision, his sensibility is not mass-market, and those expectations have always been a burden on him, especially because every time out he wants to do things no one has done before.“

The least one can say about Femme Fatale is that it‘s a deliriously beautiful movie and, definitely, no one -- not even Brian De Palma -- has done anything quite like it before.