"Female Agents" from 2007 is the true story of Lise Villameur (here Louise Desfontaines, played by Sophie Marceau), an agent who worked against the Nazis during World War II. There are several films about female World War II spies: Carve Her Name with Pride is one, also a true story and very moving, and the film Odette, also very good.Desfontaines is recruited by her brother Pierre (Julien Boisselier) to find women to help rescue a British geologist from a German hospital. He had been sent to study the soil on the beaches at Normandy in preparation for D-Day and was captured. For the mission, Louise chooses Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), a prostitute who is in prison for murder; an explosives expert Gaëlle Lemenech (Déborah François); and the ex-fiancé of Colonel Karl Heindrich, Suzy Desprez (Marie Gillain). The mission goes off well, but to their consternation, Pierre has another job for them. He needs them to go to Paris to kill Colonel Heindrich who believes the Allies are planning to land in Normandy.Excellent film, suspenseful, gritty, dark, and atmospheric, with wonderful performances by everyone, but especially Marceau, who plays the tough, quick, and enterprising Louise.I'm not sure why this film received a low rating on IMDb, and I also don't know where the bland title came from. I believe "Les femmes de l'ombre" means "Women of the Shadows." There must be something more exciting than "Female Agents."This isn't your typical movie; some of it is hard to watch, but the courage of these women is quite amazing.

This film is probably based on true events but the keyword here is "based", as in very remotely based. I think the blame should be put on the writer and director who did an incredibly poor job out of a potential hit, messing it up to the point of turning a war-time thriller into a hilarious comedy, with no intention of doing so.The scenario lacked credibility from beginning to end. After a mere day of training, these poor girls manage to parachute at night without even a scratch, perform a perfectly synchronized strip show on music they'd never heard before and without the slightest possibility of a rehearsal.Sophie the sharp-shooter doesn't hold her breath while aiming, holds her rifles on both occasions at the shoulder, without support, hence shaking like a leaf, yet hitting her targets in the darkest of nights at the start of the film and later missing an unmissable shot in the subway with a state-of-the-art rifle in perfect conditions.At one point the girls get into a shoot-out (at the hospital) and hold their Stens at arm's length, like a bunch of dirty diapers, without getting their wrists damaged by the recoil and, of course, hitting their targets square on instead of shooting at birds.Such scenes were highly reminiscent of Charlie's Angels at their best, although the latter film is intended to be seen as funnily over-the-top, whereas the former is supposed to be realistic and based on true events.If all these failings were not sufficient to trigger bouts of hilarious laughter in the audience, the scenario pushes on and arranges for the girls to always be at the right spot at the right time with the right contacts, help and equipment, as though they had planned and rehearsed all the mishaps of their mission hundreds of times beforehand, a bit in the style of James Bond films. Simply not credible for such a story.The director jumps continuously from one scene to the next without the slightest hint of fluidity nor continuity, in the manner of a Marvel's comic. The girls look panicked throughout but yet manage to make all the right moves with nerves of steel, with a clear vision of when to hit, or shoot, or walk instead of running, and yet fail to kill the bad guy on so many occasions until the very end, as prescribed by the confused scenario, naturally.The sobbing looks fake in nearly all relevant scenes. The girls' characters evolve erratically in all psychological directions, as though they'd had weeks to think through what was happening to them and change their minds. The scenes of torture and suicide by cyanide pill have an air of strange impressionism derived from a 70's film by Godard. The bad Nazis have the look and feel of choir boys.In short it feels like a girlie's remake of Inglorious Basterds, shallow as hell, making very little sense or, rather, asking the viewer to mentally fill the gaps where the director lacked the time, or skill, or both, to package an otherwise interesting story into a sensible unit.Contrary to some comments I've read, the French know how to make excellent action films, write credible scenarii, and act convincingly, probably more so than most productions made in Hollywood. Unfortunately "les femmes de l'ombre" is a very bad example and shouldn't be seen as a landmark of French film-making, unless of course one looks at it as a comical parody of a would-be serious war-time story, in which case it remarkably hits the jackpot.I can't go so far as to recommend against watching it because, given enough imagination and little attention to detail, I wouldn't be surprised if someone found something interesting in it after all. I mean, let's face it, if you're a teenage girl or a romantic grandma, you'll probably like it.

I watched Sophie Marceau in the The World is Not Enough and she was as wooden as a post. I saw her in a few other things and I had the opinion that the woman, who is absolutely beautiful, just couldn't act. I almost didn't watch this flick because of her previous performances. Something has happened to her. She can now act and seems to be making up for lost time. She was absolutely terrific!! This flick, about four women chosen, blackmailed and coerced to work for the British as secret agents in occupied France during WWII, is one excellent and original work. It's based on an actual woman who did the things depicted here during WWII. Watch the credits at the end of the film for her story.I've seen a lot of tough women on TV and in cinema. None compare to this crew. All except Sophie Marceau start out as hesitant and somewhat weak. That doesn't last long. In no time at all they're jumping out of planes, shooting their way across France, coldly and ruthlessly murdering every German who stands in front of them. They get captured, rescued, tortured, blow things up, etc. but still remain fearless and inventive. The mission is what counts, not their safety. This is the best flick I've seen in a long time and the very best action chick flick ever made.

This is one of those films you happen to buy, but actually don't know a thing about, and that proves to be of star quality, everything very well done, and while on one plane just a war movie, in other ways quite outstanding.The story, in short, is about French girls who are pressed into service to rescue a British geologist, that have accidentally ended up in a hospital for Germans, in occupied France.Things go wrong, all but one dies, most being shot during operations, or tortured, by SS. The acting by the leading ladies is superb: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Marie Gillain, Déborah François, & Maya Sansa.Equally competent are the men, French, British & German-speaking alike: Moritz Bleibtreu, Julien Boisselier, Vincent Rottiers, Volker Bruch, Robin Renucci, Xavier Beauvois, Colin David Reese, Jurgen Mash & Conrad Cecil, to mention a few.Someone compared it with the Dirty Dozen, with the criminal soldiers replaced by French women.A more serious flick than the DZ, as there are very few laughs, and sadder in many ways, but very well done in every way!