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 centre of a film noir can’, as Susan Hayward points out, ‘for once win - or at least “get away with it”.‘‘Ginette Vincendeau has assembled an elite corps of film scholars to address a marvellous array of modern and classic French films with the close-up scrutiny they deserve.’- Dudley Andrew
