In the context of nineteenth-century Victorinoir and close readings of original-cycle film noir, Julie Grossman argues that the presence of the "femme fatale" figure, as she is understood in film criticism and popular culture, is drastically over-emphasized and has helped to sustain cultural obsessions with "bad" women.
2010 Outstanding Academic Title, CHOICE
'This is a compelling, informed, well-researched, and deeply original book.'
- G. A. Foster, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Choice
'Rethinking the Femme Fatale poses important questions for feminist work on noir, underlining how the style also remains a contested and rewarding critical terrain.'
- Yvonne Tasker, Journal of Gender Studies
'This is a compelling, informed, well-researched, and deeply original book.'
- G. A. Foster, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Choice
'Rethinking the Femme Fatale poses important questions for feminist work on noir, underlining how the style also remains a contested and rewarding critical terrain.'
- Yvonne Tasker, Journal of Gender Studies