Nikita: French Film Guide

by Susan Hayward

Nikita (1990) is the story of a nineteen-year old junkie, Nikita (Anne Parillaud) who is given a second chance in life through being trained to be - and becoming - a skilled assassin for the State. Nikita is a cult classic, directed by Luc Besson (with Thierry Arbogast as director of photography) in his hallmark powerful style. The film was an international hit, which spawned a TV series and a Hollywood remake. Susan Hayward develops here a fresh and provocative way of understanding Nikita's plot structure as a neo-baroque symphony. She goes in depth into key sequences of the film, examines its reception as a popular film by audiences and critics, and looks at The Assassin , the Hollywood remake of Nikita . This is a wonderfully exciting book on an underrated film. It also shows that the woman placed at the center of a film noir can, as Susan Hayward points out, ""for once win - or at least 'get away with it.'""

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Susan Hayward is a scholar who specializes in French film studies and French cultural studies. She is the editor of the journal Studies in French Cinema.

Hayward is Chair of Cinema Studies and Director of Film Studies at the University of Exeter. Previously, she was a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Birmingham.

Reviews

[Andrew Shapter · Rating 3 out of 5]

An in depth analysis of one of my favourite films? A relatively obscure one at that, in many non-cinephile circles to be sure, so this was a great find. Didn't even know it existed.
Look, I definitely enjoyed it, found it quite insightful. Hayward writes well and it was easy enough to get through. May have used the word "ambiguous" a lot though. Maybe too much. If there was a drinking game based on the amount of times the word or a variant appears then I'd be in no fit state to drive.

Maybe I'm hard to please but I really wanted more out of this book. More scene by scene breakdown, maybe some expert topic opinions. There was probably too much time dedicated to the reason behind the set design of Nikita's room/cell (pages) but if you're in to that, then well, you found yourself a winner.
Anyway, time to rewatch Nikita.