Les Braqueuses (1994)

Les Braqueuses is a French film comedy first released in 1994, directed by Jean-Paul Salomé.  The film stars Catherine Jacob, Clémentine Célarié, Alexandra Kazan, Nanou Garcia and Annie Girardot.  It has also been released under the title: Girls with Guns.  Our overall rating for this film is: very poor.


Four childhood girlfriends decide to rebel.   They are: Cécile, a poorly paid teacher, Bijou, who has just been ditched by her boyfriend after giving birth, Muriel, who cares for her handicapped husband, and Lola, who has just left prison.  They decide to take to a life of crime – but only in their spare time.

At first, it sounds like an interesting idea – four women reacting to a macho world by becoming macho themselves – but it just doesn’t seem to work.  The film’s cheap thriller style certainly doesn’t help – something along the lines of a trashy American teen movie, poorly written, badly directed and with totally unconvincing, unsympathetic performances.  It’s grating, tedious and insulting, all at the same time.   However, what is really wrong is that the central idea itself is flawed, or, at the very least, horribly dated.  The reality is that women are starting to achieve equality with men, and they are doing this without resorting to the worst behaviours of their male counterparts.  Do women really want to see themselves as Arnold Schwarzenegger?  Do they really need to hold a gun to hold their own?  I don’t think so. The film is neither entertaining nor instructive – it’s just silly, unconvincing and dull.

© James Travers 2006

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