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A '''Femme Fatale''' (/ˌfæm fəˈtɑːl/ or /ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl/; <small>French:</small> [fam fatal]) is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, vampire, witch, or demon, having power over men.


A '''femme fatale''' (ˌfɛm fəˈtæl or ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl; fam faˈtal, with all [a]'s) is a mysterious and [[Seduction|seductive]] woman<ref>the penguin dictionary, femme fatale</ref> whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype or stock character of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotize her victim was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural, hence the most prosaic femme fatale today is still described as having a power akin to an enchantress, vampire, female monster or [[demon]].
The phrase is French for "fatal woman". A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. In some situations, she uses lies or coercion rather than charm. She may also make use of some subduing weapon such as sleeping gas, a modern analog of magical powers in older tales. She may also be (or imply that she is) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape; ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (a 1947 ''film noir'') is one such example.  


The phrase is French for "deadly woman". A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. Typically, she is exceptionally well-endowed in addition to possessing these qualities. In some situations, she uses lying or coercion rather than charm. She may also be (or imply to be) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape; ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (a 1947 ''film noir'') is one such example.
Although typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification and unease,<ref>Mary Ann Doane, ''Femme Fatales'' (1991) pp. 1–2</ref> femmes fatales have also appeared as antiheroines in some stories, and some even repent and become true heroines by the end of the tale. Some stories even feature benevolent and heroic femmes fatales who use their wiles to snare the villain for the greater good.


Although typically villainous, femmes fatales have also appeared as antiheroines in some stories, and some even repent and become heroines by the end of the tale. In social life, the femme fatale tortures her lover in an asymmetrical relationship, denying confirmation of her affection. She usually drives him to the point of obsession and exhaustion so that he is incapable of making rational decisions.


==History==
==History==
===Ancient Archetypes===
The femme fatale archetype exists in the culture, folklore and myth of many cultures.<ref>Mario Praz, ''The Romantic Agony'', ch. IV, p. 199: La Belle Dame sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy). London/New York, 1933–1951–1970 (Oxford University Press).</ref> Ancient mythical or legendary examples include Mohini, [[Lilith]], the [[Siren|Siren]]s, the Sphinx, Scylla, Aphrodite, Circe, Medea, Lesbia and Helen of Troy. Historical examples from Classical times include Clytemnestra, Cleopatra and Messalina, as well as the Biblical figures Delilah, Jezebel and Salome.<ref>Mario Praz (1970) ''The Romantic Agony''. Oxford University Press: 199, 213–216, 222, 250, 258, 259, 272, 277, 282, 377</ref>


===Early Western Culture to the 19th Century===
The ''femme fatale'' was a common figure in the European Middle Ages, often portraying the dangers of unbridled female sexuality. The pre-medieval inherited Biblical figure of Eve offers an example, as does the wicked, seductive enchantress typified in Morgan le Fay. The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute shows her more muted presence during the Age of Enlightenment<ref>C. G. Jung ed, ''Man and his Symbols'' (1978) p. 187</ref>


===Ancient archetypes===
The ''femme fatale'' flourished in the Romantic period in the works of  John Keats, notably "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "Lamia". Along with them, there rose the gothic novel, ''The Monk'' featuring Matilda, a very powerful femme fatale. This led to her appearing in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and as the vampire, notably in ''Carmilla'' and ''Brides of Dracula''. ''The Monk'' was greatly admired by the Marquis de Sade, for whom the femme fatale symbolised not evil, but all the best qualities of Women, with his novel ''L'Histoire de Juliette'' being perhaps the earliest wherein the femme fatale triumphs. Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used the classic personifications of the femme fatale as a subject.
The femme fatale archetype exists in the history, folklore and myth of nearly every culture in every century.<ref>Mario Praz, ''The Romantic Agony'', ch. IV, p. 199: La Belle Dame sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy). London/New York, 1933-1951-1970 (Oxford University Press).</ref> Ancient mythical, legendary and historical archetypes include [[Lilith]], Delilah, Salome and Jezebel, the [[Sirens]], the Sphinx, Scylla, Aphrodite, Clytemnestra, Medea and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt.<ref>Mario Praz (1970 ''The Romantic Agony''. Oxford University Press: 199, 213-216, 222, 250, 258, 259, 272, 277, 282, 377</ref>


===Early Western culture to the 19th century===
In the Western culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ''femme fatale'' became a more fashionable trope,<ref>Jill Scott, ''Electra after Freud'' (2005) p. 66</ref> and she is found in the paintings of the artists Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt, Franz von Stuck and Gustave Moreau. The novel ''À rebours'' by Joris-Karl Huysmans includes these fevered imaginings about an image of Salome in a Moreau painting:<ref>Huysmans ''À rebours'' – Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'': 24</ref>
The ''femme fatale'' was a common figure in the European Middle Ages, often portraying the dangers of unbridled female sexuality. The Biblical figure of Eve is an example, as is the wicked, seductive enchantress, typified in Morgan le Fay.


The ''femme fatale'' flourished in the Romantic period in the works of John Keats, notably "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "Lamia". Along with them, there rose the gothic novel, ''The Monk'' featuring Matilda, a very powerful femme fatale. This led to her appearing in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and as the vampiress, notably in ''Carmilla'' and ''Brides of Dracula''. ''The Monk'' was greatly admired by the Marquis de Sade, for whom the femme fatale symbolised not evil, but all the best qualities of Women, with his novel ''L'Histoire de Juliette'' being perhaps the earliest wherein the femme fatale triumphs. Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used the classic personifications of the femme fatale as a subject.
{{bq|1=No longer was she merely the dancing-girl who extorts a cry of lust and concupiscence from an old man by the lascivious contortions of her body; who breaks the will, masters the mind of a King by the spectacle of her quivering bosoms, heaving belly and tossing thighs; she was now revealed in a sense as the symbolic incarnation of world-old Vice, the goddess of immortal Hysteria, the Curse of Beauty supreme above all other beauties by the cataleptic spasm that stirs her flesh and steels her muscles, – a monstrous Beast of the Apocalypse, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible, poisoning.|sign=Joris-Karl Huysmans|source=''À rebours'', ''Sisters of Salome''}}


In the Western culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the ''femme fatale'' became a more fashionable trope, and she is found in the paintings of the artists Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt, Franz von Stuck and Gustave Moreau. The novel ''À rebours'' by Joris-Karl Huysmans includes these fevered imaginings about an image of Salome in a Moreau painting:
She also is seen as a prominent figure in late nineteenth and twentieth century opera, appearing in Richard Wagner's ''Parsifal'' (Kundry), George Bizet's "Carmen", Camille Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" and Alban Berg's "Lulu" (based on the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse der Pandora"  by Frank Wedekind).


<blockquote>No longer was she merely the dancing-girl who extorts a cry of lust and concupiscence from an old man by the lascivious contortions of her body; who breaks the will, masters the mind of a King by the spectacle of her quivering bosoms, heaving belly and tossing thighs; she was now revealed in a sense as the symbolic incarnation of world-old Vice, the goddess of immortal Hysteria, the Curse of Beauty supreme above all other beauties by the cataleptic spasm that stirs her flesh and steels her muscles, - a monstrous Beast of the Apocalypse, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible, poisoning.<ref>Huysmans ''À rebours'' - Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'': 24</ref></blockquote>
In fin-de-siècle decadence, Oscar Wilde reinvented the femme fatale in the play ''Salome'': she manipulates her lust-crazed uncle, King Herod, with her enticing Dance of the Seven Veils (Wilde's invention) to agree to her imperious demand: "bring me the head of John the Baptist". Later, Salome was the subject of an opera by Strauss, was popularized on stage, screen, and peep-show booth in countless reincarnations.<ref>Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome''</ref>


She also is seen as a prominent figure in late nineteenth and twentieth century opera, appearing in Richard Wagner's ''Parsifal'' (Kundry), George Bizet's "Carmen", Camille Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" and Alban Berg's "Lulu" (based on the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse der Pandora"  by Frank Wedekind).
Another enduring icon of glamour, seduction, and moral turpitude is Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, 1876–1917. While working as an exotic dancer, she took the stage name Mata Hari. Although she may have been innocent, she was accused of German espionage and was put to death by a French firing squad. After her death she became the subject of many sensational films and books.


In fin-de-siècle decadence, Oscar Wilde re-invented the femme fatale in the play ''Salome'': she manipulates her lust-crazed uncle, King Herod, with her enticing Dance of the Seven Veils (Wilde's invention) to agree to her imperious demand: ''bring me the head of John the Baptist''. Later, Salome was the subject of an opera by Strauss, was popularized on stage, screen, and peep-show booth in countless reincarnations.<ref>Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome''</ref>
Other considerably famous ''femmes fatales'' are Isabella of France, Hedda Gabler of Kristiania (now Oslo) and Marie Antoinette of Austria.


Another enduring icon of womanly glamour, seduction, and moral turpitude was Mata Hari, 1876–1917, an alluring oriental dancer who was accused of German espionage and was put to death by a French firing squad. As such, she embodied the femme fatale archetype, and, after her death she became the subject of much fantastical imagining. She was the subject of many sensational films and books.
===20th-century film and Theatre===
One traditional view portrays the femme fatale as a sexual vampire; her charms leech the virility and independence of lovers, leaving them shells of themselves. Rudyard Kipling took inspiration from a vampire painted by Philip Burne-Jones, an image typical of the era in 1897, to write his poem "The Vampire". The poem inspired the 1913 eponymous film by Robert Vignola, sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie.<ref>John T. Soister, ''American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929'', McFarland, 2012, p.41</ref> Like much of Kipling's verse it became very popular, and its refrain: "A fool there was...", describing a seduced man, became the title of the popular 1915 film ''A Fool There Was'' that made Theda Bara a star. The poem was used in the publicity for the film. On this account, in the American slang of the era the ''femme fatale'' was called a ''vamp'', short for ''vampire''.<ref>Per the Oxford English Dictionary, ''vamp'' is originally English, used first by G. K. Chesterton, but popularized in the American silent film ''The Vamp'', starring Enid Bennett</ref>


===20th century film and theatre===
From the American film-audience perspective, the femme fatale often appeared foreign, usually either of indeterminate Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She was the sexual counterpart to wholesome actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford. Notable silent-cinema vamps included Theda Bara, Helen Gardner, Louise Glaum, Valeska Suratt, Musidora, Virginia Pearson, Olga Petrova, Rosemary Theby, Nita Naldi, Pola Negri, Estelle Taylor, Jetta Goudal, and, in early appearances, Myrna Loy.


The femme fatale has been portrayed as a sexual vampiress; her charms leach the virility and independence of lovers, leaving them shells of themselves. Rudyard Kipling was inspired by a vampiress painted by Philip Burne-Jones, an image typical of the era in 1897, to write his poem "The Vampire". Like much of Kipling's verse it was incredibly popular, and its refrain: "A fool there was...", describing a seduced man, became the title of the popular 1915 film ''A Fool There Was'' that made Theda Bara a star. The poem was used in the publicity for the film. On this account, in early American slang the ''femme fatale'' was called a ''vamp'', short for ''vampiress''.<ref>Per the Oxford English Dictionary, ''vamp'' is originally English, used first by G. K. Chesterton, but popularized in the American silent film ''The Vamp'', starring Enid Bennett</ref>
During the film-noir era of the 1940s and 1950s, the femme fatale flourished in American cinema. Examples include Brigid O'Shaughnessy, portrayed by Mary Astor, who murders Sam Spade's partner in ''The Maltese Falcon''; Gene Tierney as Ellen Brent Harland in ''Leave Her to Heaven'', and the cabaret singer portrayed by Rita Hayworth in ''Gilda'' ,<ref name=Independent>
{{cite news|last=Johnston|first=Sheila|title=Whatever happened to the femme fatale?|publisher=The Independent|date=27 February 2009|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/whatever-happened-to-the-femme-fatale-1633088.html|accessdate=27 February 2009}}
</ref> narcissistic wives who manipulate their husbands; Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) in ''Double Indemnity'', Ava Gardner in ''The Killers'' and Cora (Lana Turner) in ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'', both based on novels by James M. Cain, manipulate men into killing their husbands.<ref name=Independent/> In the Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Paradine Case'', Alida Valli's character causes the deaths of two men and the near destruction of another. Another frequently cited example is the character Jane played by Lizabeth Scott in ''Too Late for Tears'' ; during her quest to keep some dirty money from its rightful recipient and her husband, she uses poison, lies, sexual teasing and a gun to keep men wrapped around her finger. Jane Greer remains notable as a murderous femme fatale using her wiles on Robert Mitchum in ''Out of the Past''. In Hitchcock's 1940 film and Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel ''Rebecca'', the eponymous femme fatale completely dominates the plot, even though she is already dead and we never see an image of her.


From the American film audience perspective, the femme fatale often was foreign, usually either of an indeterminate Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She was the sexual counterpart to wholesome actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford. Notable silent cinema vamps were Theda Bara, Helen Gardner, Louise Glaum, Valeska Suratt, Musidora, Virginia Pearson, Olga Petrova, Nita Naldi, Pola Negri, and in her early appearances, Myrna Loy.
The femme fatale has carried on to the present day, in films such as ''Body Heat'' (1981) and ''Prizzi's Honor'' (1985) – both with Kathleen Turner, ''Blade Runner'' (1982) with Sean Young, ''Blue Velvet'' (1986) with Isabella Rossellini as the seductive torch singer Dorthy Vallens, ''Basic Instinct'' (1992) with Sharon Stone, ''Damage'' (1992) with Juliette Binoche'', The Last Seduction'' (1994) with Linda Fiorentino, ''To Die For'' (1995) with Nicole Kidman, ''Devil in the Flesh'' (1998) and ''Jawbreaker'' (1999), both with Rose McGowan, ''Original Sin'' (2001) with Angelina Jolie, ''Femme Fatale'' (2002) with Rebecca Romijn, ''A Very Long Engagement'' (2004) with Marion Cotillard, ''Mini's First Time'' (2005) with Nikki Reed, ''[[Jennifer's Body (2009 Film)|Jennifer's Body]]'' (2009) with [[Megan Fox]], and ''Inception'' (2010) with Marion Cotillard.


During the film noir era of the 1940s and 1950s, the femme fatale flourished in American cinema. Examples include the overly possessive and narcissistic wife Ellen Brent Harland, portrayed by Gene Tierney, in ''Leave Her to Heaven'' (1945), who will stop at nothing to keep her husband's affections. Another is Brigid O'Shaughnessy, portrayed by Mary Astor, who uses her acting skills to murder Sam Spade's partner in ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1941). Yet another is the cabaret singer portrayed by Rita Hayworth in ''Gilda'' (1946),<ref name=Independent>http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/whatever-happened-to-the-femme-fatale-1633088.html</ref> who sexually manipulates her husband and his best friend. Another noir femme fatale is Phyllis Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, who seduces a hapless insurance salesman and persuades him to kill her husband in ''Double Indemnity'' (1944).  Like "Double Indemnity", based on another novel by James M. Cain , there is Lana Turner as Cora in ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'', in which she manipulates John Garfield to kill her husband.<ref name=Independent/> In the Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), the character played by Alida Valli is a poisonous femme fatale who is responsible for the deaths of two men and the near destruction of another. One frequently cited example is the character of Jane in ''Too Late for Tears'' (1949), played by Lizabeth Scott. During her quest to keep some dirty money from its rightful recipient and her husband, she uses poison, lies, sexual teasing and a gun to keep men wrapped around her finger.
Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard has frequently played femmes fatales, in such films as ''A Private Affair'' (2002), ''A Very Long Engagement'', ''The Black Box'', ''Inception'', ''Midnight in Paris'', ''The Dark Knight Rises'' and ''Macbeth''. Nicole Kidman has also played a few femmes fatales in films as ''To Die For'', ''The Paperboy'' and ''Moulin Rouge!''.    In the Netflix TV series, ''Orange Is The New Black'',   actress Laura Prepon plays Alex Vause,  a modern femme fatale, leading both men and women to their destruction.
Today, she remains a key character in films such as ''Body Heat'', with Kathleen Turner, ''The Last Seduction'', with Linda Fiorentino, ''To Die For'', with Nicole Kidman, ''Basic Instinct'', with Sharon Stone, and ''Femme Fatale'' with Rebecca Romijn.


===In popular culture===
==Sociological Views==
In contemporary culture, the femme fatale survives as heroine and anti-heroine, in ''Nikita'' and ''Moulin Rouge!'' as well in video games and comic books. Jessica Rabbit (voiced by Kathleen Turner) from ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'' is a parody of the femme fatale. Æon Flux is the titular femme fatale of MTV's eponymous animation series. Elektra from Marvel Comics, Catwoman and Poison Ivy from the ''Batman'' series, Fujiko Mine from ''Lupin the 3rd'' and Mystique from X-Men are all examples. In video games, Ada Wong of the ''Resident Evil'' series and Mileena from ''Mortal Kombat''and the minor character in lost planet 2 that also called "femme fatale" are a couple of examples of a femme fatale.
The femme fatale has generated divergent opinions amongst social scientists. Some relate the concept to misogyny and fear of witchcraft,<ref name="Victorian Sexual Dissidence 1999">Victorian Sexual Dissidence, By Richard Dellamora, Contributor Richard Dellamora, Published by University of Chicago Press, 1999, ISBN 0-226-14226-4, ISBN 978-0-226-14226-5</ref> and to male fears of feminism.<ref>Doane, p. 2-3</ref>


Other cultural examples of deadly women occur in espionage thrillers, and adventure comic strips, such as ''The Spirit'', by Will Eisner, and ''Terry and the Pirates'', by Milton Caniff. ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' a highly successful American TV show, also presents a beautiful and dangerous heroine in the form of the character Faith. The Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale", on ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'' album, tells of a woman (Edie Sedgwick) who will "play" a man "for a fool." Examples from the science fiction genre are Saffron from  the ''Firefly'' episodes "Our Mrs. Reynolds" and "Trash", Lady Christina de Souza from the ''Doctor Who'' special ''Planet of the Dead'', ''Alexis LeBlanc'' from ''Gallifrey High'', Sarah Connor from the ''Terminator'' series, as well as Cameron Philips and Catherine Weaver from ''Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles''.
Others say the femme fatale "remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles",<ref name="The Femme Fatale Throughout History">[http://www.history.ca/content/ContentDetail.aspx?ContentId=73 The Femme Fatale Throughout History], History Television</ref> or "expresses woman's ancient and eternal control of the sexual realm".<ref>Paglia, Camille (1992). ''Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays'' ISBN 978-0-679-74101-5, p. 15.</ref>


Natasha Fatale from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" is another example.
Jungians consider the femme fatale as an expression of the negative aspect of the Anima and animus<ref>Jung, pp. 187-90</ref> – of how the woman ''appears'' to the man.


==Sociological views==
The ''femme fatale'' has generated divergent opinions amongst social scholars. Sometimes, the ''femme fatale'' is closely tied to fears of female witch and misogyny.<ref name="Victorian Sexual Dissidence 1999">Victorian Sexual Dissidence, By Richard Dellamora, Contributor Richard Dellamora, Published by University of Chicago Press, 1999, ISBN 0226142264, 9780226142265</ref> Others say Femme fatale "remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles".<ref name="The Femme Fatale Throughout History">[http://www.history.ca/content/ContentDetail.aspx?ContentId=73 The Femme Fatale Throughout History], History Television</ref>


== See also ==
== See Also ==
* [[Enchantress]]
* [[Succubus (Traditional)|Succubus]]
* [[Succubus]]




==References==
==References==
<references/>
{{Reflist|2}}
 


== Further reading ==
==Further Reading==
*Giuseppe Scaraffia (2009) ''Femme fatale''. ISBN 978-88-389-0396-0.
*Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome''. Salome considered as an archetype of female desire and transgression and as the ultimate ''femme fatale''.
*Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome''. Salome considered as an archetype of female desire and transgression and as the ultimate ''femme fatale''.
*Bram Dijkstra (1986) ''Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture'', (1986) ISBN 0-19-505652-3.  Discusses the ''Femme fatale''-stereotype.
*Bram Dijkstra (1986) ''Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture'', (1986) ISBN 0-19-505652-3.  Discusses the ''Femme fatale''-stereotype.
*Bram Dijkstra (1996) ''Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture'', (1996) ISBN 0-8050-5549-5
*Bram Dijkstra (1996) ''Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture'', (1996) ISBN 0-8050-5549-5
*Elizabeth K. Mix ''Evil By Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale'', ISBN 978-0252073236. Discusses the origin of the ''Femme fatale'' in 19th century French popular culture.
*Elizabeth K. Mix ''Evil By Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale'', ISBN 978-0-252-07323-6. Discusses the origin of the ''Femme fatale'' in 19th century French popular culture.
*Mario Praz (1930) ''The Romantic Agony''. See chapters four, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and five, 'Byzantium'.
*Mario Praz (1930) ''The Romantic Agony''. See chapters four, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and five, 'Byzantium'.


==External links==
 
==External Links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale The original source of this article at Wikipedia]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femme_fatale The original source of this article at Wikipedia]
*[http://www.pip-dickens.com/femmefatale.htm Femme Fatale - A series of charcoal drawings by British artist, Pip Dickens.  Based on aspects of the close-up and fabrics worn by femme fatales in Film Noir]
*[http://www.pip-dickens.com/femmefatale.htm Femme Fatale - A series of charcoal drawings by British artist, Pip Dickens.  Based on aspects of the close-up and fabrics worn by femme fatales in Film Noir]
Line 69: Line 73:
*[http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/film_noir/index.html High Heels on Wet Pavement: film noir and the femme fatale]
*[http://www.moderntimes.com/palace/film_noir/index.html High Heels on Wet Pavement: film noir and the femme fatale]
*[http://www.detnovel.com/FemmeFatale.html Marling, William: ''Characteristics of Hard-Boiled Fiction:The Femme Fatale'']
*[http://www.detnovel.com/FemmeFatale.html Marling, William: ''Characteristics of Hard-Boiled Fiction:The Femme Fatale'']
*[http://www.albany.edu/scj/jcjpc/vol8is3/snyder.pdf PERSONALITY DISORDER AND THE FILM NOIR FEMME FATALE by Scott Snyder]
*[http://www.filmsite.org/femmesfatales.html ''The Greatest Femmes Fatales'' American Movie Classics Filmsite]
*[http://www.filmsite.org/femmesfatales.html ''The Greatest Femmes Fatales'' American Movie Classics Filmsite]
*[http://perpetualflapper.blogspot.com/2009/02/1914-vamps-and-1921-shebas.html Fads of the 20s: Vamps and Shebas]
*[http://perpetualflapper.blogspot.com/2009/02/1914-vamps-and-1921-shebas.html Fads of the 20s: Vamps and Shebas]
*Rudyard Kipling, "[http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2765/ The Vampire]"
*Rudyard Kipling, "[http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2765/ The Vampire]"

Revision as of 11:08, 15 October 2014

A Femme Fatale (/ˌfæm fəˈtɑːl/ or /ˌfɛm fəˈtɑːl/; French: [fam fatal]) is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, vampire, witch, or demon, having power over men.

The phrase is French for "fatal woman". A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. In some situations, she uses lies or coercion rather than charm. She may also make use of some subduing weapon such as sleeping gas, a modern analog of magical powers in older tales. She may also be (or imply that she is) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape; The Lady from Shanghai (a 1947 film noir) is one such example.

Although typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification and unease,[1] femmes fatales have also appeared as antiheroines in some stories, and some even repent and become true heroines by the end of the tale. Some stories even feature benevolent and heroic femmes fatales who use their wiles to snare the villain for the greater good.


History

Ancient Archetypes

The femme fatale archetype exists in the culture, folklore and myth of many cultures.[2] Ancient mythical or legendary examples include Mohini, Lilith, the Sirens, the Sphinx, Scylla, Aphrodite, Circe, Medea, Lesbia and Helen of Troy. Historical examples from Classical times include Clytemnestra, Cleopatra and Messalina, as well as the Biblical figures Delilah, Jezebel and Salome.[3]

Early Western Culture to the 19th Century

The femme fatale was a common figure in the European Middle Ages, often portraying the dangers of unbridled female sexuality. The pre-medieval inherited Biblical figure of Eve offers an example, as does the wicked, seductive enchantress typified in Morgan le Fay. The Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute shows her more muted presence during the Age of Enlightenment[4]

The femme fatale flourished in the Romantic period in the works of John Keats, notably "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "Lamia". Along with them, there rose the gothic novel, The Monk featuring Matilda, a very powerful femme fatale. This led to her appearing in the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and as the vampire, notably in Carmilla and Brides of Dracula. The Monk was greatly admired by the Marquis de Sade, for whom the femme fatale symbolised not evil, but all the best qualities of Women, with his novel L'Histoire de Juliette being perhaps the earliest wherein the femme fatale triumphs. Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used the classic personifications of the femme fatale as a subject.

In the Western culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the femme fatale became a more fashionable trope,[5] and she is found in the paintings of the artists Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt, Franz von Stuck and Gustave Moreau. The novel À rebours by Joris-Karl Huysmans includes these fevered imaginings about an image of Salome in a Moreau painting:[6]

No longer was she merely the dancing-girl who extorts a cry of lust and concupiscence from an old man by the lascivious contortions of her body; who breaks the will, masters the mind of a King by the spectacle of her quivering bosoms, heaving belly and tossing thighs; she was now revealed in a sense as the symbolic incarnation of world-old Vice, the goddess of immortal Hysteria, the Curse of Beauty supreme above all other beauties by the cataleptic spasm that stirs her flesh and steels her muscles, – a monstrous Beast of the Apocalypse, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible, poisoning.

—Joris-Karl Huysmans, À rebours, Sisters of Salome

She also is seen as a prominent figure in late nineteenth and twentieth century opera, appearing in Richard Wagner's Parsifal (Kundry), George Bizet's "Carmen", Camille Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" and Alban Berg's "Lulu" (based on the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die Büchse der Pandora" by Frank Wedekind).

In fin-de-siècle decadence, Oscar Wilde reinvented the femme fatale in the play Salome: she manipulates her lust-crazed uncle, King Herod, with her enticing Dance of the Seven Veils (Wilde's invention) to agree to her imperious demand: "bring me the head of John the Baptist". Later, Salome was the subject of an opera by Strauss, was popularized on stage, screen, and peep-show booth in countless reincarnations.[7]

Another enduring icon of glamour, seduction, and moral turpitude is Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, 1876–1917. While working as an exotic dancer, she took the stage name Mata Hari. Although she may have been innocent, she was accused of German espionage and was put to death by a French firing squad. After her death she became the subject of many sensational films and books.

Other considerably famous femmes fatales are Isabella of France, Hedda Gabler of Kristiania (now Oslo) and Marie Antoinette of Austria.

20th-century film and Theatre

One traditional view portrays the femme fatale as a sexual vampire; her charms leech the virility and independence of lovers, leaving them shells of themselves. Rudyard Kipling took inspiration from a vampire painted by Philip Burne-Jones, an image typical of the era in 1897, to write his poem "The Vampire". The poem inspired the 1913 eponymous film by Robert Vignola, sometimes cited as the first "vamp" movie.[8] Like much of Kipling's verse it became very popular, and its refrain: "A fool there was...", describing a seduced man, became the title of the popular 1915 film A Fool There Was that made Theda Bara a star. The poem was used in the publicity for the film. On this account, in the American slang of the era the femme fatale was called a vamp, short for vampire.[9]

From the American film-audience perspective, the femme fatale often appeared foreign, usually either of indeterminate Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She was the sexual counterpart to wholesome actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford. Notable silent-cinema vamps included Theda Bara, Helen Gardner, Louise Glaum, Valeska Suratt, Musidora, Virginia Pearson, Olga Petrova, Rosemary Theby, Nita Naldi, Pola Negri, Estelle Taylor, Jetta Goudal, and, in early appearances, Myrna Loy.

During the film-noir era of the 1940s and 1950s, the femme fatale flourished in American cinema. Examples include Brigid O'Shaughnessy, portrayed by Mary Astor, who murders Sam Spade's partner in The Maltese Falcon; Gene Tierney as Ellen Brent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven, and the cabaret singer portrayed by Rita Hayworth in Gilda ,[10] narcissistic wives who manipulate their husbands; Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) in Double Indemnity, Ava Gardner in The Killers and Cora (Lana Turner) in The Postman Always Rings Twice, both based on novels by James M. Cain, manipulate men into killing their husbands.[10] In the Alfred Hitchcock film The Paradine Case, Alida Valli's character causes the deaths of two men and the near destruction of another. Another frequently cited example is the character Jane played by Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears ; during her quest to keep some dirty money from its rightful recipient and her husband, she uses poison, lies, sexual teasing and a gun to keep men wrapped around her finger. Jane Greer remains notable as a murderous femme fatale using her wiles on Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past. In Hitchcock's 1940 film and Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca, the eponymous femme fatale completely dominates the plot, even though she is already dead and we never see an image of her.

The femme fatale has carried on to the present day, in films such as Body Heat (1981) and Prizzi's Honor (1985) – both with Kathleen Turner, Blade Runner (1982) with Sean Young, Blue Velvet (1986) with Isabella Rossellini as the seductive torch singer Dorthy Vallens, Basic Instinct (1992) with Sharon Stone, Damage (1992) with Juliette Binoche, The Last Seduction (1994) with Linda Fiorentino, To Die For (1995) with Nicole Kidman, Devil in the Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999), both with Rose McGowan, Original Sin (2001) with Angelina Jolie, Femme Fatale (2002) with Rebecca Romijn, A Very Long Engagement (2004) with Marion Cotillard, Mini's First Time (2005) with Nikki Reed, Jennifer's Body (2009) with Megan Fox, and Inception (2010) with Marion Cotillard.

Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard has frequently played femmes fatales, in such films as A Private Affair (2002), A Very Long Engagement, The Black Box, Inception, Midnight in Paris, The Dark Knight Rises and Macbeth. Nicole Kidman has also played a few femmes fatales in films as To Die For, The Paperboy and Moulin Rouge!. In the Netflix TV series, Orange Is The New Black, actress Laura Prepon plays Alex Vause, a modern femme fatale, leading both men and women to their destruction.

Sociological Views

The femme fatale has generated divergent opinions amongst social scientists. Some relate the concept to misogyny and fear of witchcraft,[11] and to male fears of feminism.[12]

Others say the femme fatale "remains an example of female independence and a threat to traditional female gender roles",[13] or "expresses woman's ancient and eternal control of the sexual realm".[14]

Jungians consider the femme fatale as an expression of the negative aspect of the Anima and animus[15] – of how the woman appears to the man.


See Also


References

  1. ↑ Mary Ann Doane, Femme Fatales (1991) pp. 1–2
  2. ↑ Mario Praz, The Romantic Agony, ch. IV, p. 199: La Belle Dame sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy). London/New York, 1933–1951–1970 (Oxford University Press).
  3. ↑ Mario Praz (1970) The Romantic Agony. Oxford University Press: 199, 213–216, 222, 250, 258, 259, 272, 277, 282, 377
  4. ↑ C. G. Jung ed, Man and his Symbols (1978) p. 187
  5. ↑ Jill Scott, Electra after Freud (2005) p. 66
  6. ↑ Huysmans À rebours – Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Salome: 24
  7. ↑ Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Salome
  8. ↑ John T. Soister, American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929, McFarland, 2012, p.41
  9. ↑ Per the Oxford English Dictionary, vamp is originally English, used first by G. K. Chesterton, but popularized in the American silent film The Vamp, starring Enid Bennett
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Johnston, Sheila (27 February 2009). "Whatever happened to the femme fatale?". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/whatever-happened-to-the-femme-fatale-1633088.html. Retrieved 27 February 2009. 
  11. ↑ Victorian Sexual Dissidence, By Richard Dellamora, Contributor Richard Dellamora, Published by University of Chicago Press, 1999, ISBN 0-226-14226-4, ISBN 978-0-226-14226-5
  12. ↑ Doane, p. 2-3
  13. ↑ The Femme Fatale Throughout History, History Television
  14. ↑ Paglia, Camille (1992). Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays ISBN 978-0-679-74101-5, p. 15.
  15. ↑ Jung, pp. 187-90


Further Reading

  • Giuseppe Scaraffia (2009) Femme fatale. ISBN 978-88-389-0396-0.
  • Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Salome. Salome considered as an archetype of female desire and transgression and as the ultimate femme fatale.
  • Bram Dijkstra (1986) Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-De-Siecle Culture, (1986) ISBN 0-19-505652-3. Discusses the Femme fatale-stereotype.
  • Bram Dijkstra (1996) Evil Sisters: The Threat of Female Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture, (1996) ISBN 0-8050-5549-5
  • Elizabeth K. Mix Evil By Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale, ISBN 978-0-252-07323-6. Discusses the origin of the Femme fatale in 19th century French popular culture.
  • Mario Praz (1930) The Romantic Agony. See chapters four, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and five, 'Byzantium'.


External Links

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