As you may have noticed, here at Kiss Me Deadly we're just the teeniest bit into the whole 'femme fatale' thing. If you're a fan of our imagery, then you can't have failed to notice the ubiquitous weaponery being wielded by our models, from throwing knives and pistols to axes and even broadswords...if we can get our hands on it, we'll find a way to incorporate it into a shoot! And of course, the style of the 1930s-50s is a source of design inspiration for our vintage-look lingerie, an era when Hollywood was producing some of its most memorable and masterful classics.
Sometimes playful, sometimes deadly, the archetype of the femme fatale is a fascinating one, and one that clearly appeals to our intelligent, empowered, female-centric fanbase; bad girls, vamps and nasty women, those who are that little bit drawn to the darker side.
So we're overjoyed to announce that we're pairing with the BFI to bring you a season of films that celebrate the role of the deadly woman in 20th century cinema.
The British Film Institute is home to the world's largest film archive, and runs both the London Imax and BFI Southbank. It's been around since 1933 and exists to 'encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom'. As a bona fide film nerd (my background is in film-making with a focus on film noir - have you seen our own little murder mystery, which we made with for last year's Kickstarter campaign?), I'm absolutely thrilled to be working with an entity that is a literal institution of cinema.
From the smouldering icons of classic film noir, all the way through to the screen sirens of the updated genre in the 80s and 90s, the femme fatale's enduring appeal is testament to the seductive power of the ruthless woman - an idol of perversity, one who swaps the perceived rewards of love and loyalty for often financial or material gain. Perhaps, we're attracted to the rejection of the traditional depiction of a woman as the 'gentle sex'; or maybe we respect her willingness to put her own desires at the centre of the story, and use every tool at her disposal to get what she wants.
The appropriately named 'Can You Trust Her' season is part of a programme of films dealing with suspicion, deception and double-crossing - suitably entitled 'Who Can You Trust?' - and the first feature of the Femme Fatale season comes a few days into the programme, with the psychological thriller Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn as a woman caught up in a tense crime plot from which there is seemingly no escape.
Other films on the programme include the classic film noir Double Indemnity starring the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck as conniving and treacherous ice queen Phyllis Dietrichson, in a movie that's widely regarded to have set the standards for film noir.
There's also more modern films such as the 1980s thriller Body Heat, an erotic, neo-noir drama that takes place during an oppressive Florida heatwave, and the 1990s classic Basic Instinct, with Sharon Stone's infamously scene-stealing portrayal of intelligent, fiercely sexual crime writer Catherine Tramell.
Check out all the films in the 'Can You Trust Her' season here - and if you want to take a friend, quote offer Thriller241 when booking tickets. But think carefully before you choose who to take...after all, who can you trust? ;)
To find out more about the full schedule of films in the 'Who Can You Trust' season of BFI Thrillers, head to their official website here. And don't forget to quote Thriller241 to get two for the price of one!
More announcements and plans for a group outing coming to our social media soon!
