← Back to results
Nikita
1990 117 min France, Italy R 18+
★7.4
Action, Thriller
Director: Luc Besson
Trailers
EN
EN
Description
A beautiful felon, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a policeman, is given a second chance – as a secret political assassin controlled by the government.
Budget:
$6M
US Gross:
$5.02M
Worldwide:
$5.02M
Starring
Anne Parillaud
Actor
Marc Duret
Actor
Patrick Fontana
Actor
Awards
César Awards 1991
— Best Actress
César Awards 1991
— Best Sound
César Awards 1991
— Best Film Editing
Golden Globe 1992
— Best International Feature Film
César Awards 1991
— Best Cinematography
César Awards 1991
— Best Actress
César Awards 1991
— Best Picture
César Awards 1991
— Best Director
César Awards 1991
— Best Original Score
César Awards 1991
— Best Production Design
Key opinion
Luc Besson's Nikita is widely regarded as a seminal genre-shifting work that helped define the modern action-thriller aesthetic. While its technical execution and central performance are highly praised for their raw, unconventional impact, the film's pacing and narrative logic remain subject to debate.
| Acting | Anne Parillaud’s performance successfully subverts traditional beauty tropes, blending fragile grace with an androgynous, raw authenticity. | |
| Acting | Jean Reno’s brief but impactful turn as 'The Cleaner' serves as a clear precursor to his later, more iconic role in Léon: The Professional. | |
| Direction | Besson’s direction effectively pivots from traditional melancholy French cinema to a stark, character-driven style that influenced decades of subsequent action films. | |
| Originality | The film is consistently recognized as a pioneering template that spurred numerous remakes and heavily influenced the 'covert agent' subgenre. | |
| Score | Eric Serra’s score creates a distinct, conceptual atmosphere that some critics find memorable and essential, while others find it stylistically mismatched with the film's tone. | |
| Pacing | The film's narrative momentum is polarizing, with some viewers finding the shift from a sluggish, surreal first act to a tense, character-focused second act to be a flaw, while others find the contemplative pace rewarding. |