Saturday Night at Market Chess Cinemas

La Femme Nikita (1990) is a very good Franco-Italian thriller, serving as Luc Besson's vehicle to be an auteur as both writer and director. 

As the title implies, this is a classic, noir, femme fatale film, with a bad girl female lead condemned to death for the murder of a policeman. She is given a second chance, however, as a government-controlled assassin carrying out secret missions. 

Anne Parillaud hits the right notes as Nikita, blending toughness, sexiness, street smarts, as well as her dark and bright sides. 

The film is also worth seeing because you can really tell how many films, since its release in 1990, have either copied or paid homage to it.