''Female Agents'' (french: Les Femmes de l'ombre) is a 2008 French historical drama film directed by

Jean-Paul Salomé Jean-Paul Salomé (born 14 September 1960) is a French director and screenwriter. Filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salome, Jean-Paul 1960 births Living people Film directors from Paris French male screenwriters French ...

and starring Sophie Marceau,

Julie Depardieu Julie Marion Depardieu (born 18 June 1973) is a French actress who has appeared in a number of successful films. Early life Born 18 June 1973 in Paris, she is the daughter of Gérard Depardieu, Gérard and Élisabeth Depardieu and the sister of t ...

Marie Gillain Marie Gillain O.M.W. (born 18 June 1975) is a Belgian actress. In 1996 Gillain received the Prix Romy Schneider. She is single and has two daughters, Dune (born in 2004, with musician Martin Gamet) and Vega (born in 2009, with French-Italian a ...

Déborah François Déborah François (; born 24 May 1987) is a Belgian actress. She is best known for her starring role in the Palme d'Or-winning film, '' The Child'' (2005), directed by the Dardenne brothers. In 2009, she won a César Award for Most Promising ...

, and

Moritz Bleibtreu Moritz Johann Bleibtreu (; was born in Munich, Munich, Germany on August 13, 1971. He has worked over the years as a film actor, voice actor, and film director. Bleibtreu has been a successful actor in many movies such as ''Run Lola Run, Das Exp ...

. Written by Salomé and Laurent Vachaud, the film is about female

resistance fighters Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Jean-Paul Salomé, the director, drew inspiration from an obituary in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' newspaper of Lise de Baissac (Lise Villameur), from

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

(then a British colony), one of the heroines of the SOE, named "Louise Desfontaines" in the film and played by Sophie Marceau. The film was partly funded by

BBC Films BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'', '' Alan Pa ...

Plot

In May 1944 Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau), a member of the French Resistance, flees to Spain after her husband is killed, where she is captured and later expatriated to London. She is recruited by the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

(SOE), the secret spy and sabotage service initiated by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. Louise is given an urgent first mission: to extricate a British agent (Conrad Cecil) who has fallen into German hands while preparing the invasion of Normandy. The agent has not yet revealed anything but time is pressing. Louise must first create a commando group of women especially chosen for the needs of the operation. When it comes to recruitment, anything goes: lies, blackmail, bribery (through the offer of remission of a death sentence) and calls to carry out patriotic duty. She first employs Suzy Desprez (

), a cabaret dancer who excels in the art of seducing men. Then she brings in Gaëlle Lemenech (

), a chemist and explosives expert. Finally she selects Jeanne Faussier (

), a prostitute capable of killing in cold blood. After their arrival in Normandy, they are joined by Maria Luzzato (

Maya Sansa Maya Sansa (born 25 September 1975) is an Italian actress. Early life and career Maya Sansa was born in Rome the daughter of an Iranian father and an Italian mother. When she was 14, she started to study acting at her high school in Rome the " ...

), an Italian Jew and radio operator. The mission gets under way well, but quickly becomes complicated. They are obliged to return to Paris, where the SOE gives them a new, almost suicidal, objective: to eliminate Colonel Heindrich, one of the key figures of Nazi counter-espionage. He knows too much about the planned landings.

Cast

* Sophie Marceau as Louise Desfontaines *

as Jeanne Faussier *

as Suzy Desprez *

as Gaëlle Lemenech *

as SS-Standartenführer Karl Heindrich *

as Maria Luzzato *

Julien Boisselier Julien Boisselier (born 26 May 1970) is a French actor. Life and career Boisselier was born and raised in Nantes before moving to Paris to study comedy at Le Cours Florent. He dated acclaimed French actress Mélanie Laurent, though the two ...

as Pierre Desfontaines *

Vincent Rottiers Vincent Rottiers (born 17 June 1986) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than thirty films since 2002. He is the older brother of actor Kévin Azaïs Kévin Azaïs (born 1992) is a French actor. He is best known for his performance ...

as Eddy *

Volker Bruch Volker Bruch (; born 9 March 1980) is a German television and film actor. He is best known internationally for his leading roles as Wilhelm Winter in the television drama ''Generation War'' (2013) and as Inspector Gereon Rath in the neo-noir seri ...

as SS-Obersturmführer Becker * Robin Renucci as Melchior * Xavier Beauvois as Claude Granville * Colin David Reese as Colonel Maurice Buckmaster * Jurgen Mash as Generalfeldmarshall

Gerd von Rundstedt Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953) was a German field marshal in the '' Heer'' (Army) of Nazi Germany during World War II. Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, Rundstedt entered th ...

* Conrad Cecil as Le géologue anglais * Alexandre Jazede as René Bourienne * David Capelle as Bernard Quesnot * Wolfgang Pissors as Médecin train * Chantal Garrigues as Mme Duchemin * James Gerard as Officier anglais 1 * Edward Hamilton-Clark as Officier anglais 2 * Marc Bertolini as Moustachu train * Rainer Sievert as Lieutenant hôpital Normandie * Ashley Wanninger as Soldat radio cour hôpital * Natasha Cashman as Secrétaire Buckmaster * Stanislas Kemper as Pilote Jeanne RAF * Simon Boyle as Dispatcher * Olivier De Wispelaere as Feld gendarme St Lazare * Johannes Oliver Hamm as Major SS train * David Van Severen as Caporal Pioche *

Sarah Tullamore Sarah Tullamore is an English-born actress, singer, dancer and voice-over artist. Biography Tullamore was born in Carshalton, a suburb of the London Borough of Sutton, England and grew up in Banstead. She began her vocal career as a child singer ...

as Nurse hôpital anglais * Philippe Soutan as Poinçonneur Baratier * Yves Heck as Conducteur métro * Stéphane Foenkinos as Contrôleur train * Christophe Grofer as Sentinelle G2 * Stefan Kollmuss as Officier Wehrmacht St Germain * Fabian Arning as Soldat Pierre * Olivier Beraud-Bedouin as Le milicien (as Olivier Beraud) *

Alex Lutz Alex Lutz (born 24 August 1978) is a French actor, comedian and director. He is best known for his role of Catherine in ''La revue de presse de Catherine et Liliane'' in '' Le Petit Journal''. Theater He has worked with comedians like Malik Ben ...

as a Soldier * Jan Oliver Schroeder as Garde entrée hôpital * Serge Boutleroff as Concierge hôtel Régent (as Serge Onteniente) * Antoine Salomé as Groom Régent * Andrew W. Wilson as Prêtre catholique aérodrome * Ida Techer as La surveillante couloir

Reception

While the film received general positive reviews from French critics, certain resistance veterans from the time have criticised it saying it portrayed them as "coerced into joining the resistance", not joining through patriotism. The film won the

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

Audience Award at the 2010 edition of the

Cinéfranco Cinéfranco is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which presents a weeklong program of both Canadian and international French language films. History The festival was established in 1997 by Marcelle Lean, a former chair of the On ...

film festival.

References

External links

* * * *
''Female Agents''
at uniFrance {{DEFAULTSORT:Female Agents 2008 films 2000s spy films 2000s adventure films 2000s French-language films French war films French spy films War adventure films World War II films based on actual events Films about the French Resistance Films set in the 1940s Films directed by Jean-Paul Salomé Films scored by Bruno Coulais 2000s French films