!!!!
So, I capped Les Femmes De L'Ombre (Female Agents, or if you're looking for a more direct translation: Women Of The Shadows). It is my new favorite movie. Everyone should (at least) watch the trailer.
The Cast
Sophie Marceau (Louise Desfontaines, French commando, enlisted into the SOE)
Julie Depardieu (Jeanne Faussier, convicted criminal, enlisted into the SOE)
Déborah François (Gaëlle Lemenech, FANY nurses' corps, later enlisted into the SOE)
Marie Gillain (Suzy Desprez, FANY nurses' corps, former lover of Col. Heindrich, later enlisted into the SOE)
Maya Sansa (Maria Luzzato, FANY nurses' corps, enlisted into the SOE)
Julien Boisselier (Pierre Desfontaines, French resistance fighter)
Moritz Bleibtreu (SS Col. Heindrich)
In short, the film is centered around five female SOE (Special Operatives Executive) agents/resistance fighters sent on a mission to rescue a British geologist who is captured reconnoitering the Normandy beaches in May 1944 & to subsequently murder an SS Col. in possession of invaluable information pertaining to the allied offensive.
In detail, Louise Desfontaines has just returned from Normandy after successfully completing a sabotage mission on a German train station & supply depot. Louise is contacted by her brother, Pierre, & French Col. Buckmaster regarding another Spec. Ops mission concerning a captive British geologist. After some persuasion, Louise agrees to embark on this mission & enlists the help of four young women belonging to the FANY nurses' corps.
On the eve of her departure, Louise & the FANY nurses rendezvous at Tempsford Aerodrome & are briefed by Pierre before they are suited up & loaded onto a Whitley bomber. The women, accompanied by Pierre, are then parachuted into France & land in the village of Boisrenard.
After the drop, Pierre is informed that SS Col. Heindrich has discovered the identity of the British geologist whom they have been sent to rescue. Heindrich travels to a hospital in Normandy where the British officer is believed to be situated & apprehends him for questioning.
In retaliation, Pierre formulates a plan wherein Louise & Maria pose as nurses & Suzy & Jeanne disguise themselves as dancers & perform a cabaret for the German officers stationed at the hospital. Once the SOE agents have infiltrated the facility, Pierre uses the cabaret dancers as a diversion while Louise & Maria locate the geologist.
When Louise makes contact with Cecil (the geologist), Jeanne, Suzy & Gaëlle change into civilian clothing & release tear gas canisters beneath the chairs of the onlooking German officers. Amidst the mounting chaos, the five women & Pierre are able to escape relatively unscathed, & by way of ambulance, with Cecil.
Prior to his evacuation from the airlift site, Cecil reveals to Pierre that Heindrich knows about the Phoenix. To stop this information from getting to the German high-command, Pierre tells (his sister) Louise & co. that they are not returning to Britain but must, instead, travel to Paris to complete a second facet of the operation: to murder Col. Heindrich, a decorated SS officer who is, presumably, close to unraveling the allied secrets concerning the D-Day invasion.
Once the plane has safely taken off, Pierre, assisted by a French (male) aid, return to the ambulance (their chosen mode of transportation) to collect much needed weapons & first aid supplies for the rest of the group. They are unexpectedly met by Heindrich & a small contingent of SS troops, & after a close-combat gunfight Pierre's aid is killed & Pierre himself receives a gunshot wound to the leg before he is captured.
The gunshots echoing through the woods alert Louise who stealthily maneuvers back toward the ambulance but only in time to watch helplessly from the brush as Pierre is handcuffed & dragged into the back of an awaiting German truck.
Distraught by the capture of Pierre, the women travel by train to their new destination: a safe house in Paris where they are to collectively conspire to murder Heindrich. However, while en route to Paris, Heindrich is presented with a photo of Gaëlle (taken during her 'striptease' at the Nazi hospital), & during a routine document check & baggage inspection at the station she is arrested, while the others are miraculously able to escape Gestapo security undetected. Gaëlle is transported to a Nazi holding cell where Heindrich continues to torture Pierre in hopes of extracting information about the Normandy landing. When Pierre refuses to talk, Heindrich threatens to employ the same methods of torment on Gaëlle.
Pierre, seemingly possessing no empathy, still refuses to confess the allied plans & as punishment, Heindrich orders an officer to remove one of Gaelle's fingers. Terrified of being tortured further, Gaëlle immediately reveals the location of the remaining resistance officers. Gaëlle & Pierre are then imprisoned together & when Gaëlle tries to seek comfort in Pierre, he attempts to suffocate her, but is stopped by a pair of SS guards who hear Gaëlle's muffled screams.
Wasting no time, Heindrich departs from the prison leading a small party of Gestapo officers to the school to arrest Louise, Jeanne, Suzy, & Maria. Maria & Suzy hurriedly exit the facility merely seconds before Heindrich arrives, meanwhile Louise & Jeanne are guided into the catacombs of Paris by of one of the school's professors & narrowly avoid what would have been definite capture.
Louise seeks help from a contact at a history museum, codenamed Melchior, who reveals a second plot to assassinate Heindrich at a metro station in Paris called La Concorde. Simultaneously, Louise discovers that Suzy, one of her crew, was in a relationship with Heindrich at the beginning of the war, & is advised by Melchior to use her as bait in an attempt lure the Colonel into a trap. As instructed by Louise, Suzy locates the Colonel & provides him with the tip off. Heindrich takes the bait & soon after, he arrives at the metro station with a handful of Gestapo officers disguised as civilians to neutralize the remaining members of the resistance.
Louise positions herself in the subway tunnel & kneels on blanket laid out on the tracks while she assembles a sniper rifle provided to her by Melchior. When Heindrich notices Suzy inside the adjacent subway car, chaos breaks out & Maria sloppily tries to shoot Heindrich, revealing herself to the Gestapo. She is quickly gunned down by one of Heindrich's staff & with all the bustle & shooting, Louise is unable to obtain a clear shot at Heindrich (who now realizes that this is a trap) &, instead, grazes his ear, barely wounding him. Louise drops the rifle & flees the station but is captured by five Gestapo officers waiting at the metro exit.
With Louise's capture, the remaining agents (Jeanne & Suzy) hatch a seemingly flawless plan to eliminate Heindrich permanently. Eddy (a former member of Heindrich's staff who has been coerced into working with the resistance) tells Heindrich that Suzy will be staying at a nearby hotel. Jeanne, posing as a maid, manages to sneak a pistol into Suzy's room & hides it beneath her pillow. Heindrich enters the hotel & passes Jeanne in the corridor. She lingers in the stairwell for a moment, & after hearing two gunshots, she retreats to a waiting vehicle driven by Eddy. Eddy & Jeanne watch as two stretcher bearers carry a body out of the hotel draped in a white sheet. For a moment, they believe this body to be Heindrich's, but when he appears in the doorway watching his soldiers dispose of the corpse, they quickly realize that it is Suzy who has been killed.
Alone in her cell & awaiting execution, Gaëlle lays naked on the concrete floor & recites a final prayer before swallowing a cyanide capsule smuggled to her by Louise.
Now threatening to torture Louise, Heindrich again offers Pierre a chance to reveal what he knows about the Phoenix & the Normandy invasion. Pierre decides to negotiate with Heindrich & demands that he promise to spare Louise from further interrogation & execution in return for information about D-Day. Heindrich reluctantly agrees & contacts Field Marshall Rommel to present him with the plans for the allied attack. Heindrich is informed that he will have to supply conclusive evidence if the German high-command are to consider the immediate mobilization of their armies to Normandy. He offers to bring Pierre to Berlin as proof of the allied plans, but when Pierre overhears this, he slits his own throat with a blade sitting amongst the scattered torture utensils previously used on Louise.
In anger & frustration, Heindrich reneges on his promise to Pierre & offers Louise an ultimatum: immediate deportation to Dachau or death by a Nazi firing squad. Louise chooses the latter & she is promptly escorted to an isolated area. Before she & her captors reach the assigned location, they are intercepted by Jeanne (disguised as a female SS officer), Melchoir & Eddy & is rescued.
After her rescue, Louise & Jeanne rush to Heindrich's place of evacuation & make a last-ditch effort to eliminate him. With no time for mistakes or planning, Jeanne tells Louise that she will cause the necessary distractions so that Louise can pass through security. Louise, now wearing Jeanne's SS uniform, walks onto the platform holding a briefcase. She shows the guards her aush weiss, informing them that she is carrying important documents that must be delivered to Heindrich, & she is allowed passage. Jeanne opens fire at Gestapo security & while she is arrested, Louise walks speedily down the platform. Through the steam coming from the train, Louise approaches the SS Colonel & says, "Oberst Heindrich?" She opens her briefcase revealing a Luger equipped with a silencer & when he turns to face her, she shoots him in the stomach. Heindrich, shocked, drops to his knees & as Louise walks past him, she shoots him once more in the head.
The next time we see Louise, she is in SOE headquarters flipping through pictures that were taken after the liberation of what was presumed to be Jeanne's concentration camp. Louise shakes her head at Buckmaster as she continues to look through the series of photos. The last photo is of a woman's charred, naked body complete with a noose around her neck. Louise identifies this woman as Jeanne.
The last scene filmed is of Louise lighting four candles in a church, in remembrance, accompanied by a picture of the women with whom she served in France: Les Femmes De L'Ombre.
& now for the pictures! I capped it in HD, so these images are pretty sweet. If you are intrigued & want to download this film, you can find the torrent here; however, you may have to wait a few days for somebody to upload English subtitles (as of now, it's in French & German). If you're looking for subs, just google 'les femmes de l'ombre.srt'.
& finally, if you want to see the rest of the images I capped, they are zipped here. There are 1, 082 in total. :) Enjoy!
The Cast
Sophie Marceau (Louise Desfontaines, French commando, enlisted into the SOE)
Julie Depardieu (Jeanne Faussier, convicted criminal, enlisted into the SOE)
Déborah François (Gaëlle Lemenech, FANY nurses' corps, later enlisted into the SOE)
Marie Gillain (Suzy Desprez, FANY nurses' corps, former lover of Col. Heindrich, later enlisted into the SOE)
Maya Sansa (Maria Luzzato, FANY nurses' corps, enlisted into the SOE)
Julien Boisselier (Pierre Desfontaines, French resistance fighter)
Moritz Bleibtreu (SS Col. Heindrich)
In short, the film is centered around five female SOE (Special Operatives Executive) agents/resistance fighters sent on a mission to rescue a British geologist who is captured reconnoitering the Normandy beaches in May 1944 & to subsequently murder an SS Col. in possession of invaluable information pertaining to the allied offensive.
In detail, Louise Desfontaines has just returned from Normandy after successfully completing a sabotage mission on a German train station & supply depot. Louise is contacted by her brother, Pierre, & French Col. Buckmaster regarding another Spec. Ops mission concerning a captive British geologist. After some persuasion, Louise agrees to embark on this mission & enlists the help of four young women belonging to the FANY nurses' corps.
On the eve of her departure, Louise & the FANY nurses rendezvous at Tempsford Aerodrome & are briefed by Pierre before they are suited up & loaded onto a Whitley bomber. The women, accompanied by Pierre, are then parachuted into France & land in the village of Boisrenard.
After the drop, Pierre is informed that SS Col. Heindrich has discovered the identity of the British geologist whom they have been sent to rescue. Heindrich travels to a hospital in Normandy where the British officer is believed to be situated & apprehends him for questioning.
In retaliation, Pierre formulates a plan wherein Louise & Maria pose as nurses & Suzy & Jeanne disguise themselves as dancers & perform a cabaret for the German officers stationed at the hospital. Once the SOE agents have infiltrated the facility, Pierre uses the cabaret dancers as a diversion while Louise & Maria locate the geologist.
When Louise makes contact with Cecil (the geologist), Jeanne, Suzy & Gaëlle change into civilian clothing & release tear gas canisters beneath the chairs of the onlooking German officers. Amidst the mounting chaos, the five women & Pierre are able to escape relatively unscathed, & by way of ambulance, with Cecil.
Prior to his evacuation from the airlift site, Cecil reveals to Pierre that Heindrich knows about the Phoenix. To stop this information from getting to the German high-command, Pierre tells (his sister) Louise & co. that they are not returning to Britain but must, instead, travel to Paris to complete a second facet of the operation: to murder Col. Heindrich, a decorated SS officer who is, presumably, close to unraveling the allied secrets concerning the D-Day invasion.
Once the plane has safely taken off, Pierre, assisted by a French (male) aid, return to the ambulance (their chosen mode of transportation) to collect much needed weapons & first aid supplies for the rest of the group. They are unexpectedly met by Heindrich & a small contingent of SS troops, & after a close-combat gunfight Pierre's aid is killed & Pierre himself receives a gunshot wound to the leg before he is captured.
The gunshots echoing through the woods alert Louise who stealthily maneuvers back toward the ambulance but only in time to watch helplessly from the brush as Pierre is handcuffed & dragged into the back of an awaiting German truck.
Distraught by the capture of Pierre, the women travel by train to their new destination: a safe house in Paris where they are to collectively conspire to murder Heindrich. However, while en route to Paris, Heindrich is presented with a photo of Gaëlle (taken during her 'striptease' at the Nazi hospital), & during a routine document check & baggage inspection at the station she is arrested, while the others are miraculously able to escape Gestapo security undetected. Gaëlle is transported to a Nazi holding cell where Heindrich continues to torture Pierre in hopes of extracting information about the Normandy landing. When Pierre refuses to talk, Heindrich threatens to employ the same methods of torment on Gaëlle.
Pierre, seemingly possessing no empathy, still refuses to confess the allied plans & as punishment, Heindrich orders an officer to remove one of Gaelle's fingers. Terrified of being tortured further, Gaëlle immediately reveals the location of the remaining resistance officers. Gaëlle & Pierre are then imprisoned together & when Gaëlle tries to seek comfort in Pierre, he attempts to suffocate her, but is stopped by a pair of SS guards who hear Gaëlle's muffled screams.
Wasting no time, Heindrich departs from the prison leading a small party of Gestapo officers to the school to arrest Louise, Jeanne, Suzy, & Maria. Maria & Suzy hurriedly exit the facility merely seconds before Heindrich arrives, meanwhile Louise & Jeanne are guided into the catacombs of Paris by of one of the school's professors & narrowly avoid what would have been definite capture.
Louise seeks help from a contact at a history museum, codenamed Melchior, who reveals a second plot to assassinate Heindrich at a metro station in Paris called La Concorde. Simultaneously, Louise discovers that Suzy, one of her crew, was in a relationship with Heindrich at the beginning of the war, & is advised by Melchior to use her as bait in an attempt lure the Colonel into a trap. As instructed by Louise, Suzy locates the Colonel & provides him with the tip off. Heindrich takes the bait & soon after, he arrives at the metro station with a handful of Gestapo officers disguised as civilians to neutralize the remaining members of the resistance.
Louise positions herself in the subway tunnel & kneels on blanket laid out on the tracks while she assembles a sniper rifle provided to her by Melchior. When Heindrich notices Suzy inside the adjacent subway car, chaos breaks out & Maria sloppily tries to shoot Heindrich, revealing herself to the Gestapo. She is quickly gunned down by one of Heindrich's staff & with all the bustle & shooting, Louise is unable to obtain a clear shot at Heindrich (who now realizes that this is a trap) &, instead, grazes his ear, barely wounding him. Louise drops the rifle & flees the station but is captured by five Gestapo officers waiting at the metro exit.
With Louise's capture, the remaining agents (Jeanne & Suzy) hatch a seemingly flawless plan to eliminate Heindrich permanently. Eddy (a former member of Heindrich's staff who has been coerced into working with the resistance) tells Heindrich that Suzy will be staying at a nearby hotel. Jeanne, posing as a maid, manages to sneak a pistol into Suzy's room & hides it beneath her pillow. Heindrich enters the hotel & passes Jeanne in the corridor. She lingers in the stairwell for a moment, & after hearing two gunshots, she retreats to a waiting vehicle driven by Eddy. Eddy & Jeanne watch as two stretcher bearers carry a body out of the hotel draped in a white sheet. For a moment, they believe this body to be Heindrich's, but when he appears in the doorway watching his soldiers dispose of the corpse, they quickly realize that it is Suzy who has been killed.
Alone in her cell & awaiting execution, Gaëlle lays naked on the concrete floor & recites a final prayer before swallowing a cyanide capsule smuggled to her by Louise.
Now threatening to torture Louise, Heindrich again offers Pierre a chance to reveal what he knows about the Phoenix & the Normandy invasion. Pierre decides to negotiate with Heindrich & demands that he promise to spare Louise from further interrogation & execution in return for information about D-Day. Heindrich reluctantly agrees & contacts Field Marshall Rommel to present him with the plans for the allied attack. Heindrich is informed that he will have to supply conclusive evidence if the German high-command are to consider the immediate mobilization of their armies to Normandy. He offers to bring Pierre to Berlin as proof of the allied plans, but when Pierre overhears this, he slits his own throat with a blade sitting amongst the scattered torture utensils previously used on Louise.
In anger & frustration, Heindrich reneges on his promise to Pierre & offers Louise an ultimatum: immediate deportation to Dachau or death by a Nazi firing squad. Louise chooses the latter & she is promptly escorted to an isolated area. Before she & her captors reach the assigned location, they are intercepted by Jeanne (disguised as a female SS officer), Melchoir & Eddy & is rescued.
After her rescue, Louise & Jeanne rush to Heindrich's place of evacuation & make a last-ditch effort to eliminate him. With no time for mistakes or planning, Jeanne tells Louise that she will cause the necessary distractions so that Louise can pass through security. Louise, now wearing Jeanne's SS uniform, walks onto the platform holding a briefcase. She shows the guards her aush weiss, informing them that she is carrying important documents that must be delivered to Heindrich, & she is allowed passage. Jeanne opens fire at Gestapo security & while she is arrested, Louise walks speedily down the platform. Through the steam coming from the train, Louise approaches the SS Colonel & says, "Oberst Heindrich?" She opens her briefcase revealing a Luger equipped with a silencer & when he turns to face her, she shoots him in the stomach. Heindrich, shocked, drops to his knees & as Louise walks past him, she shoots him once more in the head.
The next time we see Louise, she is in SOE headquarters flipping through pictures that were taken after the liberation of what was presumed to be Jeanne's concentration camp. Louise shakes her head at Buckmaster as she continues to look through the series of photos. The last photo is of a woman's charred, naked body complete with a noose around her neck. Louise identifies this woman as Jeanne.
The last scene filmed is of Louise lighting four candles in a church, in remembrance, accompanied by a picture of the women with whom she served in France: Les Femmes De L'Ombre.
& now for the pictures! I capped it in HD, so these images are pretty sweet. If you are intrigued & want to download this film, you can find the torrent here; however, you may have to wait a few days for somebody to upload English subtitles (as of now, it's in French & German). If you're looking for subs, just google 'les femmes de l'ombre.srt'.
& finally, if you want to see the rest of the images I capped, they are zipped here. There are 1, 082 in total. :) Enjoy!