La Femme Nikita (1991)

You have to read it, but it’s well worth the effort – as a matter of fact, this may be the perfect introduction to foreign films for those who have shunned them in the past. It is also one of the few movies that will cause neither you nor your date dissatisfaction. No kidding – it is tender, harsh, sad, violent, and sweet. Sounds like a mish-mash, but it all works and every viewer is fulfilled.

The first half -- training -- is great, but it's the second half that makes the film outstanding. It's in the second portion that we are allowed to see what could have been for this woman...if she had just caught a break earlier. The juxtaposition between domesticity and her agent duties -- at one point with just a thin hotel door between her two worlds -- is jarring. Parillaud wears her heart on her face and is believable in all the attitudes she has to affect: drugged-out, insane, thrashingly violent, sullen, carefree, in-love, adorable, hurt, terrified, and more. Fantastic performance.

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