Hell Hath No Fury - A List of Cinema's Greatest Femmes Fatale

"And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
 Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
 And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
 That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male."
Rudyard Kipling

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
William Congreve

 Never mind "the evil that men do"! In the world of story telling it is a woman's wrath which truly engrosses us. Why, even the oldest story ever told starts off with Eve tempting Adam into disobeying his Lord. Greek mythology is filled with jealous and scheming goddesses; Shakespeare created the prototypical 'woman behind the man' in Lady Macbeth; the most memorable villains in Grimm's fairy tales are vain and bitter stepmothers; and in the modern age's most popular storytelling medium - i.e. cinema - it is the posionous allure of the femme fatale which continues to shock or enthrall us.

In this blog I will list some of the most memorable female characters in cinema who, whether out of vengeance, bitterness, jealousy or desperation, carefully set out to destroy another person's life.

Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1949)

Olivia de Havilland

Catherine Sloper (played by Olivia de Havilland) is a plain, painfully shy woman whose emotionally detached father makes no secret of his disappointment in her. When she meets the charming Morris Townsend (played by Montgomery Clift), she falls desperately in love with him. Catherine intends to marry him, but when Morris finds out that Catherine will be disinherited if he marries her, he disappears.  A few years later Catherine's father has died and she has inherited his fortune. Morris returns to try and woo her again, but this time Catherine is wise to his deceptive ways and the scene is set for her carefully orchestrated revenge.








Eve Harrington in All About Eve (1950)

Anne Baxter

Margo Channing (played by Bette Davies) is one of the biggest stars on Broadway, but despite her success she is bemoaning her age, having just turned forty and knowing what that will mean for her career. After a performance one night, she meets a besotted fan backstage - the titular Eve Harrington (played by Anne Baxter). Eve tells a moving story of growing up poor and losing her young husband in the recent war. Moved, Margo quickly befriends her, takes her into her home, and hires her as her assistant. But as the film progresses, we realize that Eve is not who she said she was. In fact, she is a conniving young actress who gradually works to supplant Margo, and uses her to make her own successful career on Broadway.




Mrs Robinson in The Graduate (1967)

Anne Bancroft

Anne Bacnroft plays Mrs Robinson, a bored and disillusioned housewife in her forties who, in an attempt to add some excitement to her life, seduces the 21 year old Benjamin Braddock - the son of her husband's business partner and a recent college graduate. Despite Benjamin's attempts at adding some depth and meaning to their relationship, Mrs Robinson remains aloof and disconnected. She is only interested in him for the sex. Benjamin soon becomes bored with the relationship and starts flirting with Mrs Robinson's daughter. That's when all hell breaks loose. Filled with jealousy and shame, Mrs Robinson does all she can to keep Benjamin away from her daughter.





Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs Kramer (1979)

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep plays Joanna Kramer, a young wife and mother who feels she has slowly been losing her identity since she became married. She abandons her family to go and find herself, leaving her ex-husband to look after their son on his own. Mr Kramer (played by Dustin Hoffman) has a tough year, balancing the care of his son with his fledgling career, but during that time, father and son bond and become closer to each other than they ever have been. But then Joanna Kramer returns, demanding her son back, and a bitter custody battle ensues. This film was released at the height of the woman's lib movement and at a time when divorces and custody battles had become more common. It was a real zeitgeist movie which divided audiences into those who supported Joanna Kramer's right to be an independent woman and a mother, and those who derided her as a heartless and selfish bitch.




Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction (1987)

Glenn Close

Glenn Close plays Alex Forrest, a successful editor who has a fling with Dan Gallagher, a married business colleague, played by Michael Douglas. What started out as a quick and opportunistic one night stand, soon devolves into every married man's nightmare, when Alex Forrest starts stalking him. Glenn Close does an excellent job of portraying a woman with emotional problems who is desperate for a meaningful relationship with a man. She does all she can to avoid playing the stereotypical psycho bitch from hell, but she is let down by the re-shot ending. The original ending had her character commit suicide when she realised that a real, loving relationship with Dan Gallagher was impossible. But audiences did not react well to this ending during test screenings and it had to be re-shot. The film now ends with a deranged Alex Forrest showing up at Dan's house with a kitchen knife intent on killing his wife. Like Kramer vs Kramer, this was a real zeitgeist movie, released at a time when women were still struggling to be taken seriously in the world of business, and it faced a feminist backlash for portraying a successful businesswoman as a sad, lovelorn and desperate psychopath.



Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990)

Kathy Bates

While traveling from Colorado to his home in New York City, Famed novelist Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan) is caught in a blizzard and his car goes off the road, rendering him unconscious. Paul is rescued by a nurse named Annie Wilkes (payed Kathy Bates), who brings him to her remote home. When Paul regains consciousness he finds himself bedridden, with both his legs broken as well as a dislocated shoulder. Annie claims she is his "number one fan" and at first seems to be a pleasant, bubbly, slightly odd, but harmless spinster. However, Annie Wilkes is very much affected by mood swings and a dark cloud appears in her mind when she finds out that Paul Sheldon has killed off her beloved heroine, Misery Chastain. She becomes increasingly dangerous and psychopathic as she holds the author hostage and forces him to burn his manuscript and re-write the book to save her heroine's life.



Barbara Covett in Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Judi Dench

Barbara Covett (played by Judi Dench) is a history teacher at a comprehensive school in London. A spinster nearing retirement, she becomes instantly infatuated with Sheba Hart, a new art teacher (played by Cate Blanchett) who joins the staff. When Barbara discovers that Sheba is having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, she uses the information to manipulate Sheba into loving her. She allows the story to leak out, causing Sheba to be fired, thrown out of her home by her husband and move in  with Barbara. But her plans backfire when Sheba discovers her real intentions.


Amy Dunne in Gone Girl (2014)

Rosamund Pike

The day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne returns home to find his wife Amy is missing. The police conclude that Amy was murdered and suspicions arise that Nick is responsible. But all is not what it seems. As Nick desperately tries to proof his innocence, he slowly falls into Amy’s carefully laid trap to incriminate him; Amy’s twisted form of punishment for neglecting her throughout their marriage. Rosamund Pike does an excellent job of playing a steely-willed woman, who knows exactly what she wants and has no qualms about hurting people to get it.