Summary
- Margot Robbie delivers a powerhouse performance as the unpredictable and seductive Nellie LaRoy in Damien Chazelle's Babylon, showcasing the wild seductiveness of femme fatales.
- Kathleen Turner's Matty Walker in Body Heat convinces William Hurt's character to commit murder, showcasing the real intentions behind Matty's seductive charm.
- Nicole Kidman's Suzanne Stone in To Die For is one of the most cruel characters in film history, using seductive manipulation to achieve her goals, even roping in two teenagers to commit murder.
The femme fatale trope has been widely used in cinema. The term describes female characters who act mysterious and seductive as a ploy to kill, hypnotize, or trap their victims. While they are most popular in action films, the trope has also made its way to film noir, science fiction, and horror genres as well.
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Modern films take a more subtle approach to these archetypes. In the past thirty years, femme fatales have become more than just objectified women. These modern female characters might be the best examples of femme fatales in all cinema.
Updated on October 9, 2023, by Blaise Santi: Nowadays in modern movies, the femme fatale trope can be seen as outdated for perpetuating gender norms that aren't always socially accepted in 2023. Though audiences still crave the femme fatales of movies past, there are still plenty of examples of dangerously seductive female characters from movies of the '80s and '90s, and even more recently, though they might not fulfill every single qualification of a classic femme fatale archetype. These additional four ladies from film history are certainly seductive, but the sides of them that are dangerous may be more surprising than others.
In this case, "modern" refers to movies released after the golden age of noir movies and femme fatales (1940s and 50s).
18 Nellie LaRoy - Babylon
- Actress: Margot Robbie
- Director: Damien Chazelle
Damien Chazelle's Babylon was quite divisive among critics, but one thing about it no one contested was Margot Robbie's powerhouse performance as unpredictable movie star Nellie LaRoy. Robbie's character embodies the wild seductiveness that femme fatales are known for, utilizing her sexuality to let loose, though it lands many people in trouble.
Particularly, towards the end of the film, LaRoy becomes the target of mobsters due to her extensive gambling debts. After she and fellow film star Manny unintentionally pay it off with counterfeit bills, they decide to run away together, though Nellie eventually leaves him behind to continue her reckless life of partying and debauchery.
17 Matty Tyler Walker - Body Heat
- Actress: Kathleen Turner
- Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Released in 1981, Body Heat resulted in a star-making turn for actress Kathleen Turner, who plays a woman who ropes William Hurt's character into an affair. Turner's Matty Walker ends up convincing Hurt's Ned to kill her husband, which forces Ned into a situation that winds up landing him in prison for murder, though he starts to realize Matty's real intentions.
As it turns out (spoiler alert!), Matty Walker isn't the real name of Kathleen Turner's character, it was an identity she had assumed to marry her husband and murder him. The film's many twists and turns can be difficult to keep track of, but one thing isn't: no man in the audience wouldn't be victim to Kathleen Turner's seductions if they were in William Hurt's position.
16 Suzanne Stone - To Die For
- Actress: Nikole Kidman
- Director: Gus Van Sant
Nicole Kidman's role in Gus Van Sant's 1995 film To Die For is notably one of the most cruel characters in film history. An ambitious wannabe news reporter, Kidman's Suzanne Stone stops at nothing to achieve her goals, which gets more complicated when her husband wants her to give it all up. She ends up roping in two teen delinquents to murder him.
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Although things don't necessarily end well for Suzanne by the end of the film, her seductive manipulation of these two teenagers ends up taking her a long way. To Die For remains one of the most beloved films of Nicole Kidman's, and strongly established her as a late '90s sex symbol who would rule blockbuster cinema for years to come.
15 Jane Smith - Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- Actress: Angelina Jolie
- Director: Doug Liman
In the wake of Amazon Studios producing a television reboot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, many fans have looked back on the blockbuster glory that was the original 2005 film. Angelina Jolie starred opposite Brad Pitt as a married couple moonlighting as assassins behind the other's back. Famously, the on-screen seduction between the two mirrored Jolie and Pitt's real lives.
Furthermore, Jolie's performance in the film as the crafty Jane Smith will be big shoes to fill for PEN15's Maya Erskine, who will play the role opposite Donald Glover in the Amazon series. Nevertheless, there are few performances in film history as classically femme fatale as Jane Smith, making Jolie one of the most notable performers in the archetype's history.
14 Pussy Galore - Goldfinger
- Actress: Honor Blackman
- Director: Guy Hamilton
The James Bond franchise has seen its fair share of femme fatales in the form of "Bond girls." These characters are often romantic interests of the secret agent, though sometimes they're antagonists to Bond's various missions. Over the years, they've been played by actresses like Michelle Yeoh, Ana de Armas, and Jane Seymour.
One of the most famous Bond girls is Pussy Galore, who appeared in the 1964 film, Goldfinger. She has a contentious relationship with Sean Connery's Bond, who forces himself upon her in one pivotal scene. Despite this obvious crossing of boundaries, she falls for Bond and helps him thwart the evil plans of the titular villain.
13 Vanessa Kensington - Austin Powers Films
- Actress: Elizabeth Hurley
- Director: Jay Roach
The Austin Powers franchise stars Mike Myers as a parody of James Bond. In each film, Powers pairs with a seductive female sidekick, such as Heather Graham's Felicity Shagwell or Beyonce's Foxxy Cleopatra. However, Elizabeth Hurley's Vanessa Kensington is the franchise's most iconic femme fatale.
Vanessa is an intelligent, respected agent of the British government, who is often the straight man to Austin's sexually promiscuous antics. Like Pussy Galore, she inevitably falls for his charms, despite her reservations at the start. However, it's revealed in the second film that she's a Fembot programmed to kill Austin.
12 Mystique - X-Men Films
- Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
Marvel Comics feature many femme fatales, like She-Hulk or the Enchantress. However, few are as popular as Mystique, who first appeared in the 2000s X-Men. She was played by Rebecca Romjin before the role was taken over by Jennifer Lawrence in the most recent X-Men series of films.
Mystique, a.k.a. Raven Darkölme, is a shapeshifter and frequent enemy of the X-Men. She usually serves Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants, although the Jennifer Lawrence iteration of the character has more of a heroic role as of X-Men: Days of Future Past. She's not only a master of disguise but seduction as well.
11 Cruella - Cruella
- Actress: Emma Stone
- Director: Craig Gillespie
Cruella de Vil is one of the most iconic villains in film history. She appears in 1956's The Hundred and One Dalmatians, as well as the live-action adaptation from 1996. However, her most recent portrayal by Emma Stone in Cruella outlines her origin as a fashion designer turned femme fatale.
While Cruella foregoes seduction in this Disney film, she does become an adversary of Emma Thompson's Baroness, a rival fashion designer. She utilizes her beauty as a weapon against this tyrant of the fashion industry, ultimately dethroning her. This depiction of Cruella is an example of a femme fatale that's easy to empathize with.
10 Catherine Tramell – Basic Instinct
- Actress: Sharon Stone
- Director: Paul Verhoeven
Sharon Stone set the bar for the femme fatale in 1992's Basic Instinct. She stars opposite Michael Douglas, who plays a homicide detective investigating a rock star's murder. Catherine Tramell, the victim's boyfriend, is the obvious suspect, but her flirtations with Douglas's Nick Curran steer him off the path.
Eventually, Catherine and Nick begin an intense affair, forcing Nick to question Catherine's innocence. By the end, Nick has completely fallen for Catherine's ruse, even when it's revealed that she was the killer all along. This character is a classic example of the twisted mind games of femme fatale characters.
9 Xenia Onatopp – GoldenEye
- Actress: Famke Janssen
- Director: Martin Campbell
Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp is another of the James Bond franchise's many femme fatales. She appears alongside Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye, released in 1995. She's smart, violent, and sexy: all of James Bond's greatest weaknesses. Unlike most Bond girls, however, the 007 doesn't fall victim to her advances.
Xenia and Bond get into several fights during the movie. In one example, she attempts to crush Bond's head between her thighs. Unfortunately, Xenia meets her demise at the hands of Bond himself after he shoots down her helicopter. Xenia is an example of a femme fatale whose methods of seduction fail against the hero.