by Kim Krizan
Endings
“I’ve never been much good. At least up to now I haven’t. You aren’t getting any bargain… But I’ve got a funny feeling that I want to be good. I don’t know, maybe I can’t, but I’m going to try. I’ll try hard, Bart. I’ll try.”
— Laurie, played by Peggy Cummins in “Gun Crazy”
It’s a given that femme fatales often come to strange or sad ends. Or they may really turn the world upside down and try to become good. Such was the case with Rita Hayworth’s unhappy, duplicitous Gilda who seemed to crawl her way back to the romanticism of youth in a last ditch effort to achieve happiness. Such was also the case with Kim Novak’s character Gillian, who repented of her witchy ways and became good in the resolution of “Bell, Book and Candle.” Interestingly, Novak’s character Madeleine/Judy also dropped the Fatale-ism in “Vertigo” and developed a little compassion for her dupe, played with earnest intensity by Jimmy Stewart. Was Madeleine/Judy happier for it? Only she can say.
It’s the unwritten and unfilmed fantasy ending of every femme fatale story out there: the one where the evil lady rewinds the tape, finds the fork in her road, and takes the other path, the one most traveled. The world heaves a sigh of relief for she’s decided to try to play it their way and “be nice,” putting herself on the backburner for relationship, children, work. This mood can last only so long. If true happiness doesn’t descend, she’s back to square one and having to bitch-slap the dummies into treating her right all over again.
Before her time comes and as she hears the pegleg of death clomping her way, the femme fatale proceeds gracefully and with style. Somewhat like demented black swans, femme fatales seem to cruise effortlessly along the surface of life, while under the surface of the water an extraordinary effort keeps them propelled.
Toward the end the femme fatale often becomes an exotic recluse. Greta Garbo, that inveterate window shopper and power walker-about-town, quietly slipped away in her New York apartment. “I had made enough faces,” she said about ditching her Hollywood career. Ava Gardner, once a habitué of flamenco clubs and bullrings, retired to a stately London flat, emerging only to walk her dog. Anaïs Nin, after managing two husbands for twenty years (one for each coast), finally chose a place to die and left the matter of battling memorial services to the living.
In any case, it’s de rigueur for the femme fatale to come to a glamorous end. Being shot (or, more spectacularly, executed by firing squad) is the most obvious finale for the glamorous femme fatale. Diving into a pit of fire has its exotic charm. Being confined to jail is a tried-and-true ending worthy of Hollywood. Committing suicide is always a fitting option. But perhaps simply disappearing from sight is the way to go—less messy and doesn’t involve lawyers. Dietrich employed this method with great success. After spending her advancing years as a glamorous chanteuse, one day she simply retired to her Paris apartment, refusing to receive guests but still commandeering “The Image” to the end.
What remains is the legend: that of the femme fatale. The reality may have been something else, but a woman will always be remembered and lauded for her evil power and her perverse refusal to do things the way the world would have had her do them. By simply living, by following her own star and refusing to cater to others, woman has been truly, undeniably, irrevocably Fatale.
Appropriate Ensembles for Every Occasion
Arranging to Have a Poisonous Snake Placed in Her Basket of Fruit
So She Can Commit Suicide
Simple white gown. Orange robe with gold
embellishment on right breast.
Hair long and gently waved.
(As worn by Cleopatra, played by Elizabeth Taylor in “Cleopatra.”)
Attending Her Own Execution by Firing Squad
Hair slicked back and with a plain barrette at the nape of the neck.
Very simple black dress with modest collar and long loose sleeves.
Long simple black coat.
Heavy eyeliner on the top lid only, as well as extremely long lashes,
thinly arched brows, and perfect lipstick.
(As worn by Mata Hari, played by Greta Garbo in “Mata Hari.”)
Films Referenced in this Book
“A Fool There Was” (1915)
“Ace in the Hole” (1951)
“Anna Christie” (1930)
“Babes on Broadway” (1941)
“Bad Blonde/The Flanagan Boy” (1953)
“Bandolero!” (1968)
“Barbarella” (1968)
“Basic Instinct” (1992)
“Batman” (ABC, 1966–1968)
“Bell, Book and Candle” (1958)
“Being Julia” (2004)
“Black Widow” (1987)
“Blood and Sand” (1941)
“Body Heat” (1981)
“Bonnie and Clyde” (1967)
“Bugsy” (1991)
“Chicago” (2002)
“Chinatown” (1974)
“Cleopatra” (1917)
“Cleopatra” (1963)
“Cobra Woman” (1944)
“Coffy” (1973)
“Confidential Agent” (1945)
“Criss Cross” (1949)
“Cruel Intentions” (1999)
“Damage” (1992)
“Dead Gorgeous” (BBC 3, 2002)
“Decoy” (1946)
“Desire” (1936)
“Detour” (1945)
“Destruction” (1915)
“Detour” (1945)
“Devil in the Flesh” (1998)
“Diary of a Lost Girl” (1929)
“Double Indemnity” (1944)
“Dr. No” (1962)
“Dynasty” (ABC, 1981–1989)
“Foxy Brown” (1974)
“Gilda” (1946)
“Gone with the Wind” (1939)
“Grand Hotel” (1932)
“Gun Crazy” (1950)
“Her Double Life” (1916)
“High School Confidential!” (1958)
“I Dream of Jeannie” (NBC, 1965–1970)
“It” (1927)
“Jezebel” (1938)
“La Femme Nikita” (1990)
“Laura” (1944)
“Leave Her to Heaven” (1945)
“Les Vampires” (1915)
“Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em” (1927)
“Macbeth” (1971)
“Marked Woman” (1937)
“Marnie” (1964)
“Mata Hari” (1931)
“Maya” (1949)
“Medea” (1969)
“Mommy Dearest” (1981)
“Murder, My Sweet” (1944)
“Network” (1976)
“Niagara” (1953)
“Night of the Iguana” (1964)
“Of Human Bondage” (1934)
“One Arabian Night/Sumurun” (1920)
“Out of the Past” (1947)
“Overland Stage Riders” (1938)
“Pandora and the Flying Dutchman” (1951)
“Pandora’s Box” (1929)
“The Private Lives of Adam and Eve” (1960)
“Prix de Beaute’” (1930)
“Queen Bee” (1955)
“Rain” (1932)
“Salome” (1923)
“Samson and Delilah” (1949)
“Scarface” (1983)
“Scarlet Street” (1945)
“Sea of Love” (1989)
“Shanghai Express” (1932)
“Shanghai Gesture” (1941)
“Sin” (1915)
“Siren from Hell” (1915)
“Some Like It Hot” (1959)
“The Barefoot Contessa” (1954)
“The Big Heat” (1953)
“The Big Sleep” (1946)
“The Birds” (1963)
“The Bitch” (1979)
“The Blue Angel” (1930)
“The Devil is a Woman” (1935)
“The Devil’s Daughter” (1915)
“The Eternal Sappho” (1916)
&
nbsp; “The Forbidden Path” (1918)
“The Graduate” (1967)
“The Hunger” (1983)
“The Killers” (1946)
“The Killers” (1964)
“The Lady from Shanghai” (1947)
“The Last Seduction” (1994)
“The Letter” (1940)
“The Maltese Falcon” (1941)
“The Postman Always Rings Twice” (1946)
“The Public Enemy” (1931)
“The Scarlet Letter” (1995)
“The Stain” (1914)
“The Stud” (1978)
“The Temptress” (1926)
“The Wicked Lady” (1945)
“The Women” (1939)
“This Gun for Hire” (1942)
“Tiger Woman” (1917)
“To Have and Have Not” (1944)
“Valmont” (1989)
“Vertigo” (1958)
“Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)
“When a Woman Sins” (1918)
“Whistle Stop” (1946)
“Young Man with a Horn” (1950)
“10” (1979)