Wingwomen (Voleuses), an action flick from France, comes from director Mélanie Laurent. Mélanie Laurent also plays a leading role as one of the women thieves featured in the story. The first thing you need to know is don’t pay any attention to the film’s description. It was written by someone who read the book or the graphic novel but hasn’t seen the film. The film is different.
Wingwomen is about women thieves. They are experts at what they do. Carole (Mélanie Laurent) and Alex (Adèle Exarchopoulos) are a team. Carole is older. She does the stealing. Alex is an expert sharpshooter and can drive a motorcycle. They’ve been at it a while and are getting tired of being in danger all the time. They want out.
Marraine (Isabelle Adjani) is their boss. She’s called godmother. She doesn’t want to let them go. She insists on one last job – to steal a painting. The godmother teams them up with a new woman driver, Sam (Manon Bresch), and the guy who will do the planning for the last heist, Abner (Philippe Katerine).
They spend some time training Sam and bonding. There are distractions along the way. They murder a bunch of guys while doing a flamenco dance because they killed Alex’s pet rabbit. There’s a gender flipped fight between Alex and a naked man. Carole discovers she’s pregnant.
The women loved each other like family. Their relationship was the heart of the story. Which is why I hated the ending. I’m not going to tell you what the ending is, except to say that you need to pay really close attention to the person firing a gun at Carole when she seemingly gives up the fight. Also listen carefully to what Carole says to Alex at that moment. That will help you understand the ending. It won’t make you like the ending, but you’ll see what’s going on.
Mélanie Laurent, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Manon Bresch were all excellent in this. It wasn’t a great action movie; it wasn’t a great comedy either although it tried to be funny. It could have been a great friendship movie if the ending had been a little different.
Even so, you know I’m going to watch and enjoy an action flick about women directed by a woman. If you watch it, too, let me know what you think. It’s streaming on Netflix.
Discover more from Old Ain't Dead
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I wanted to like this but bailed after the rabbit was killed. I found the dubbing way too distracting and Adjani spooked me out.
I hate dubbing and never use it, so I don’t know how bad it was. Action movies are violent and people never have to be accountable for their bad actions. Bailing on something you don’t like is a wise move.