Most Film Noir stories feature the femme fatale, she is the one who leads men down the wrong path, convinces them to commit murder and then run away with them, only to leave the men in the dust to deal with the fall out of their actions. The femme fatale of the Neo Noir variety is often the main focus, sometimes they are even the protagonist themselves. Bridget Gregory is the ultimate femme fatale, even more so than Sharon Stone’s character Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. She lies, cheats, steals, seduces her way through a rough patch in her life. This is all triggered when her husband hits her, but by her actions throughout the film, it’s more likely she has been planning this whole ordeal before the incident.
Linda Fiorentino is a force to be reckoned with in this film. Robbed of awards recognition because of a technicality with the film’s release, she gained little notoriety after the film, appearing in similar orientated films and Dogma, she seemed to have disappeared in the 2000s. Her personal life reads like Neo Noir, when she became involved with an FBI agent to try and provide evidence to release her PI boyfriend, Anthony Pellicano who was on trial for several crimes. Maybe one day we’ll see that story on the big screen.
Despite all the terrible things Bridget does, there is also some room to admire her for schemes and plans. She doesn’t do things by half measures and possesses talents that I think we all wishes we had at one point in our lives; her ability to manipulate with ease, actually commit to a job she talks herself into and execute a plan no matter how complicated. But most of all, she is always herself, even when lying, she refuses to be anything other than who she wants to be and will do anything it seems to get it.
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