The New York Times
A slick, calculating mixture of French contemplativeness and American flying glass.
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La Femme Nikita
A convicted felon is given a second chance as a political assassin working for the government in this action thriller from Luc Besson.
When drug-addicted teen Nikita (Anne Parillaud) shoots a cop in a robbery gone wrong, her sentence is death. But behind prison walls, she is given a secret ultimatum: harness her penchant for violence, or face her executioner. After three years of martial arts, weapons and etiquette training, Nikita is reborn as Josephine, a sexy, sophisticated assassin, released back into normal society with instructions to build a cover life for her killer job.
Less1990Rating: MA15+, Strong violence and coarse language117 minsFrance, ItalyFrench, Italian and English with English subtitles
ActionThrillerWorld Cinema
- Director:
- Luc Besson ('The Fifth Element', 'Léon: The Professional', Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets')
- Writer:
- Luc Besson
- Cast:
- Anne ParillaudMarc DuretPatrick FontanaAlain LathièreJean RenoTchéky KaryoJean-Hugues AngladeJeanne MoreauJacques Boudet
La Femme Nikita | Reviews
89%45 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Rolling Stone
Very Little in this French thriller makes sense, but it's all savagely engrossing because of the performance of Anne Parillaud in the title role. She's a spellbinder.
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Roger Ebert
Begins with the materials of a violent thriller but transcends them with the story of the heroine's transformation.
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Los Angeles Times
This is not French filmmaking at its best; it's a copy of American studio work, with a few bent wisps of feeling drifting in. Yet good mechanics can make half-good machines, and that's what Besson has done here.
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Entertainment Weekly
The movie is the art-house Blue Steel, and it may prove irresistible to women who’ve spent years watching farfetched male action thrillers and — quite understandably — want a few to call their own.
Full reviewLa Femme Nikita | Release Details
La Femme Nikita is available to stream in Australia now on Stan and Google Play and Apple TV and SBS On Demand.