Convicted for the cold-blooded murder of a police officer, Nikita finds herself at the end of a needle crying for her mother. Women Who Wow Wednesday celebrates Luc Besson’s signature character in the 1990 film La Femme Nikita.
She awakens in a sterile, white room thinking she may have gone to heaven. But a man dressed in black tells her otherwise. On the record, she died committing suicide taking a massive dose of tranquilizers and her remains lie in Maisons-Alfort, Row 8, Plot 30. The man reveals he works for the government and the government is willing to give Nikita a chance to make amends for all the wrong she had committed.
If she refuses—Maisons-Alfort, Row 8, Plot 30
Nikita’s first order of business entails her to undergo a rigorous set of training exercises dedicated to computer wizardry, weapons mastery, martial arts and beauty. Her task? To become someone else. Someone she would never have imagined possible of becoming when she had taken the life of that police officer.
The film stars Anne Parillaud who underwent a year’s transformation to make her believable as the rogue government agent Nikita. She had received the script ten days prior to filming, allowing her to create realistic reactions to many of the film’s brutal scenes.
Nikita came from the cold streets of drug abuse. She eyed every pharmacy as a potential score. The company she kept equally hated society. Their dark world consisted of scoring and getting high. Between the binges of scores and drugs, they lived empty lives lacking hope for the future and direction for a better life.
In some ways, when her mentor and boss, Bob (Tchéky Karyo), recruits her, he did her a favor by removing her from the streets, saving her life in the process.
And when she meets Marco (Jean-Hugues Anglade), the wave of an ordinary life washes over Nikita. She finds happiness for the first time in her abused life. She finds love for the first time as well. His love for her grounds her, keeping her sensibilities pure.
But as in every fairy tale, reality sets in forcing Nikita to realize there’s only one solution to ending her double life.
Don’t worry I won’t spoil it for you. Suffice it to say her reality is what she wished for all along.
Have you seen the movie La Femme Nikita? What did you think of it?
Looking to God 