Hornet Rating:

Starring Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Antonio Banderas and Peter Coyote

Written and Directed by Brian DePalma

Produced by Tarak Ben Ammar and Marina Gefter

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

114 mins.

Rated R

In Billy Wilder’s 1944 film-noir classic, “Double Indemnity,” Barbara Stanwyck’s character says: “I’m rotten to the heart. I used you, just as you said.” She’s perhaps the best-known example of a femme fatale, the French term for a deadly, malicious woman. In “Femme Fatale,” director Brian De Palma’s latest feature, that titular archetype is explored in a moderately enthralling crime thriller about a bad girl.

His film opens with an anonymous blonde watching “Double Indemnity” in a French hotel. The blonde is Laure (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos of “X-Men”) and she’s about to complete a jewel heist of a million dollar, diamond-studded dress at the Cannes Film Festival. The heist is reminiscent of the beginning of De Palma’s “Mission: Impossible,” with hi-tech gadgets and complicated plotting. Orchestrating the crime is Black Tie, a controlling man who subordinates Laure with a vehement slap. He also has her passport.

The plan sours and she double-crosses Black Tie, steals the diamonds (and her power back) and leaves the man bleeding on the floor, like a good femme fatale should. Unable to leave the country without her passport, Laure flounders around Paris, while vengeful thugs search for her and the diamonds.

She ducks into a church where a middle-aged couple recognizes her as Lily, their wayward daughter, and takes her to their home. The real Lily ends up killing herself, allowing Laure to assume her identity and escape to the U.S. with Lily’s passport.

Seven years pass and “Lily” is now the wife of an American ambassador to France. Bad move for a woman trying to keep a low profile in Paris. Black Tie is fresh out of prison and consumed with punishing Laure. Enter Nicholas Bardos (Antonio Banderas of the recent bomb, “Ecks vs. Sever”), a paparazzi camera-for-hire who is hired to get a shot of the photo-shy Lily. He succeeds, Lily’s cover is blown and Laure needs a way to escape. Stamos looks the part of the femme fatale. Her lithe figure and huntress glare typify the sexy but dangerous woman. However, her acting is at times too bubbly for the dark character she plays. Banderas is fine as well, but both suffer some trite lines from De Palma, who wrote the script.As with other De Palma films, “Femme Fatale” unravels society’s attitudes toward women. The bad girl/good girl dichotomy between Laure and her doppelganger Lily shows the femme fatale as the object of fear and desire in our culture.

Sexuality reveals her evil ways. While women are expected to love their partners, Laure is predatory, a sexual opportunist who will have sex with anyone, male or female, in order to get what she wants. Laure manipulates Nicholas, enticing then betraying him. “Isn’t sugar better than vinegar?” she says, trying to soothe Nicholas’ anger with kisses. He succumbs to her seduction but is fully aware of her ulterior motives. For Laure, sex is a tool to control men. They are bent on ruining her, perhaps the reason why she favors lesbianism. Black Tie wants her dead for betraying him. Even Nicholas smiles at the thought of beating her at her own game.

Voyeuristic elements abound with television and photographs becoming ways to see people who don’t necessarily want to see us. De Palma’s camera style is like spying, a detached thrill that reminds the viewers that they’re spying too.

In the end, the femme fatale is punished for her evil ways, or is she? Only a noir twist saves the flagging film. But one thing’s for sure, being bad never looked so good.