Femme fatale

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 super-
natural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often de-
scribed as having a power akin to an enchantress, seduc-
tress, vampire, witch, or demon, having power over men.
In American early 20th century film, femme fatale char-
acters were referred to as vamps, an allusion to their role
as sexual vampires.
The phrase is French for “fatal woman”. A femme fa-
tale 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 vic-
tim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape;
The Lady from Shanghai (a 1947 film noir) is one such
example. A younger version of a femme fatale is called a
The divine femme fatale of Hindu mythology, Mohini is de-
fille fatale, or “fatal girl.”
scribed to have enchanted gods, demons and sages alike.
One of the most common traits of the femme fatale in-
clude promiscuity and the “rejection of motherhood,”
seen as “one of her most threatening qualities since by 1.2 Early Western culture to the 19th cen-
denying his immortality and his posterity it leads to tury
the ultimate destruction of the male.”[1] Femmes fatale
are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, The femme fatale was a common figure in the European
and always associated with a sense of mystification, and Middle Ages, often portraying the dangers of unbridled
unease.[2] female sexuality. The pre-medieval inherited Biblical fig-
ure of Eve offers an example, as does the wicked, seduc-
tive enchantress typified in Morgan le Fay. The Queen of
the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute shows her more
1 History muted presence during the Age of Enlightenment[5]
The femme fatale flourished in the Romantic period in
the works of John Keats, notably "La Belle Dame sans
1.1 Ancient archetypes Merci" and "Lamia". Along with them, there rose the
gothic novel, The Monk featuring Matilda, a very power-
The femme fatale archetype exists in the culture, folklore ful femme fatale. This led to her appearing in the work of
and myth of many cultures.[3] Ancient mythical or leg- Edgar Allan Poe, and as the vampire, notably in Carmilla
endary examples include Mohini, Lilith, the Sirens, the and Brides of Dracula. The Monk was greatly admired by
Sphinx, Scylla, Aphrodite, Circe, Medea, Clytemnestra, the Marquis de Sade, for whom the femme fatale sym-
Lesbia, Helen of Troy and Visha Kanyas. Historical bolised not evil, but all the best qualities of Women; his
examples from Classical times include Cleopatra and novel Juliette is perhaps the earliest wherein the femme
Messalina, as well as the Biblical figures Delilah, Jezebel fatale triumphs. Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used
and Salome.[4] An example from Chinese literature and the classic personifications of the femme fatale as a sub-
traditional history is Daji. ject.

1
2 1 HISTORY

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 im-
perious demand: “bring me the head of John the Baptist".
Later, Salome was the subject of an opera by Strauss, and
was popularized on stage, screen, and peep-show booth in
countless reincarnations.[8]
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 be-
came the subject of many sensational films and books.
Other considerably famous femmes fatales are Isabella of
France, Hedda Gabler of Kristiania (now Oslo), Marie
Antoinette of Austria, and, most famously, Lucrezia Bor-
gia.

1.3 20th-century film and theatre

Salome in a painting by Franz von Stuck

In the Western culture of the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries, the femme fatale became a more
fashionable trope,[6] 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 im-
age of Salome in a Moreau painting:[7]

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
Actress Theda Bara defined the word “Vamp” in the film A Fool
Salome There Was.

One traditional view portrays the femme fatale as a sexual

She also is seen as a prominent figure in late nine- vampire; her charms leech the virility and independence
teenth and twentieth century opera, appearing in Richard of lovers, leaving them shells of themselves. Rudyard
Wagner's Parsifal (Kundry), George Bizet's "Carmen", Kipling took inspiration from a vampire painted by Philip
Camille Saint-Saëns' "Samson et Delilah" and Alban Burne-Jones, an image typical of the era in 1897, to write
Berg's "Lulu" (based on the plays "Erdgeist" and "Die his poem “The Vampire”. The poem inspired the 1913
Büchse der Pandora" by Frank Wedekind). eponymous film The Vampire (it) by Robert Vignola,
 3

sometimes cited as the first “vamp” movie.[9] Like much Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999), both with Rose Mc-
of Kipling’s verse it became very popular, and its refrain: Gowan, Original Sin (2001) with Angelina Jolie, Femme
“A fool there was...”, describing a seduced man, became Fatale (2002) with Rebecca Romijn, and Jennifer’s Body
the title of the popular 1915 film A Fool There Was that (2009), with Megan Fox. In 2013, Tania Raymonde
made Theda Bara a star. The poem was used in the pub- played the title role in Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret. In
licity for the film. On this account, in the American slang 2014, Eva Green portrayed a femme fatale in Sin City:
of the era the femme fatale was called a vamp, short for A Dame to Kill For and Rosamund Pike starred in Gone
vampire.[10][11] Girl.
From the American film-audience perspective, the Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard has
femme fatale often appeared foreign, usually either of frequently played femmes fatales, in such films as A Pri-
indeterminate Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She vate Affair (2002), A Very Long Engagement, The Black
was the sexual counterpart to wholesome actresses such Box, Inception, Midnight in Paris, The Dark Knight Rises
as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford. Notable silent-cinema and Macbeth. Nicole Kidman has also played a few
vamps included Theda Bara, Helen Gardner, Louise femmes fatales in films as To Die For, The Paperboy and
Glaum, Valeska Suratt, Musidora, Virginia Pearson, Olga Moulin Rouge!.
Petrova, Rosemary Theby, Nita Naldi, Pola Negri, Estelle The archetype is also abundantly found in American tele-
Taylor, Anita Page, Jetta Goudal, and, in early appear- vision. One of the most famous femmes fatales of Amer-
ances, Myrna Loy. ican television is Sherilyn Fenn's Audrey Horne of the
During the film-noir era of the 1940s and early-1950s, the David Lynch cult series Twin Peaks. In the Netflix TV se-
femme fatale flourished in American cinema. Examples ries, Orange Is the New Black, actress Laura Prepon plays
include Brigid O'Shaughnessy, portrayed by Mary Astor, Alex Vause, a modern femme fatale, leading both men
who murders Sam Spade’s partner in The Maltese Fal- and women to their destruction.
con (1941); manipulative narcissistic daughter Veda (por-
trayed by Ann Blyth) in Mildred Pierce who exploits her
indulgent mother Mildred (portrayed by Joan Crawford) 2 Use in criminal trials
and fatally destroys her mother’s re-marriage to stepfa-
ther Monte Barragon (portrayed by Zachary Scott); Gene
The term has been used in connection with highly publi-
Tierney as Ellen Brent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven
cised criminal trials, such as the trials of Jodi Arias[13][14]
(1945), and the cabaret singer portrayed by Rita Hay-
and Amanda Knox.[15]
worth in Gilda (1946),[12] narcissistic wives who manip-
ulate their husbands; Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stan-
wyck) in Double Indemnity (1944), Ava Gardner in The
Killers and Cora (Lana Turner) in The Postman Always 3 See also
Rings Twice, based on novels by Ernest Hemingway and
James M. Cain respectively, manipulate men into killing • Abjection
their husbands.[12] In the Hitchcock film The Paradine
• Armida
Case (1947), Alida Valli's character causes the deaths of
two men and the near destruction of another. Another • Deadly Women
frequently cited example is the character Jane played by
Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears (1949); during her • Bad girl movies
quest to keep some dirty money from its rightful recipi- • Dragon Lady (stereotype)
ent and her husband, she uses poison, lies, sexual teasing
and a gun to keep men wrapped around her finger. Jane • Enchantress
Greer remains notable as a murderous femme fatale using
her wiles on Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past (1947). • Film noir
In Hitchcock’s 1940 film and Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 • Girls with guns
novel Rebecca, the eponymous femme fatale completely
dominates the plot, even though she is already dead and • Gun moll
we never see an image of her.
• Histrionic personality disorder
The femme fatale has carried on to the present day, in
films such as Body Heat (1981) and Prizzi’s Honor (1985) • Lorelei
– both with Kathleen Turner, Blade Runner (1982) with • Psychological manipulation
Sean Young, Blue Velvet (1986) with Isabella Rossellini,
Basic Instinct (1992) with Sharon Stone, Damage (1992) • Siren
with Juliette Binoche, The Last Seduction (1994) with
Linda Fiorentino, To Die For (1995) with Nicole Kidman, • Succubus
Lost Highway (1997) with Patricia Arquette, Devil in the • Superficial charm
4 5 FURTHER READING

4 References • Bram Dijkstra (1996) Evil Sisters: The Threat of Fe-

male Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Culture, (1996)
[1] Walter, Susan (2015). “Images of the Femme Fatale ISBN 0-8050-5549-5
in two Short Stories by Emilia Pardo Bazán”. Romance
Notes. Retrieved December 8, 2015. • Elizabeth K. Mix Evil By Design: The Creation and
Marketing of the Femme Fatale, ISBN 978-0-252-
[2] Mary Ann Doane, Femme Fatales (1991) pp. 1–2 07323-6. Discusses the origin of the Femme fatale
[3] Mario Praz, The Romantic Agony, ch. IV, p. 199: La Belle in 19th century French popular culture.
Dame sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Mercy).
• Mario Praz (1930) The Romantic Agony. See chap-
London/New York, 1933–1951–1970 (Oxford University
ters four, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and five,
Press).
'Byzantium'.
[4] Mario Praz (1970) The Romantic Agony. Oxford Univer-
sity Press: 199, 213–216, 222, 250, 258, 259, 272, 277,
282, 377

[5] C. G. Jung ed, Man and his Symbols (1978) p. 187

[6] Jill Scott, Electra after Freud (2005) p. 66

[7] Huysmans À rebours – Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Sa-

lome: 24

[8] Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Salome

[9] John T. Soister, American Silent Horror, Science Fiction

and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929, McFarland, 2012,
p.41

[10] Per the Oxford English Dictionary, vamp is originally En-

glish, used first by G. K. Chesterton, but popularized in
the American silent film The Vamp, starring Enid Bennett

[11] “Vamp”, Oxford English Dictionary; retrieved 30 Decem-

ber 2016

[12] Johnston, Sheila (27 February 2009). “Whatever hap-

pened to the femme fatale?". The Independent. Archived
from the original on February 28, 2009. Retrieved 27
February 2009.

[13] Ortiz, Erik. “Jodi Arias: Femme fatale or woman of faith?

Jurors hear conflicting persona in murder trial as prosecu-
tors play phone calls of Arias lying”.

[14] “Jodi Arias Trial Update: Lawyer Reveals Femme Fatale

Was Terrified During Sentencing”. Retrieved 2015-04-
30.

[15] “Amanda Knox is no femme fatale, defence lawyer says”.

BBC News. Retrieved 2015-04-30.

5 Further reading
• Giuseppe Scaraffia (2009) Femme fatale. ISBN
978-88-389-0396-0.
• Toni Bentley (2002) Sisters of Salome. Salome con-
sidered as an archetype of female desire and trans-
gression 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.
 5

6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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