Everything you need to know about Netflix's action-thriller film 'Wingwomen'

Mélanie Laurent plays Carole, a notorious professional thief who is all set to retire and start a new life, but with the one last demand of her boss, Marraine (Isabelle Adjani), she’s left with no choice but to do a last thrilling heist alongside her picked team: her best friend Alex and their markswoman (Adèle Exarchopoulos); and young, talented race car driver named Sam (Manon Bresch), who are also troubled with a dark past. 

Despite the thrilling yet risky nature of their job, these three will not only show you their feisty side but also their own versions of vulnerability and quirks whether during or outside the mission. 

“I’ve noticed that in action films, women aren’t very funny—they’re often intimidating. The idea in Wingwomen was to portray a group of girlfriends that everyone wants to hang out with,” Mélanie told Variety. 

In one of the scenes in the teaser, Alex is in “shock” after getting dumped by one of her love interests and she makes sure to update Carole about it through their earpiece, all while during the climactic mission. 

“I like the fact that we had this freedom to portray these characters smoking cigarettes and drinking wine when they’re not kicking butts,” she continued. “We wanted Wingwomen to be rock ‘n’ roll. It’s kind of our French touch.” 

A fresh take on women empowerment and sisterhood 

Passionate about exploring and sharing stories with themes of women empowerment, Mélanie used her previous film The Mad Women’s Ball as inspiration for Wingwomen.

Although the two films contrast in genres, she found both somehow alike, especially with the challenges that the community faces with regard to their gender.  

“I wanted to continue filming women and thought I should make a film that captures our times. And as I was developing it, I realized that women are actually facing some of the same issues that they were before to remain free,” she shared. 

The filmmaker went on to stress how the film aims to break stereotypes, especially in finding romance. 

“The idea with Wingwomen was to make a movie about women who are liberated, who can have children and become mothers even if they haven’t found the perfect man who checks all the boxes,” she said. 

The trio’s sisterhood is one of the highlights of the film, which they also just developed behind the scenes. 

“We didn’t know each other, but I wrote the part for her and a miracle happened when we met!” Mélanie recalled her friendship with Adèle. She shared that she doesn’t really have friends in the industry, and she solely knows people she worked with, but she and Adele (unexpectedly) clicked. 

“When we met and had dinner together for the first time, I knew instantly that it was for life,” she added. “I knew she was super talented, but she really blew me away.” 

Manon, for her part, described her co-stars Adèle as one who “reassured [her] a lot" and Mélanie who “has a crazy maternal instinct.” 

“Our energies are contrary, but she was able to channel me and calm my turbulence,” Manon shared with Vogue France, adding that Mélanie personally trained her for two months. 

Big guns, explosives, and a lot of chasing 

Friendship, love, and career problems aside, this film is jampacked with action scenes—from skydiving, killing, and a lot of escaping. 

To make the experience more special to its viewers, Mélanie said that the daredevil stunts were done by themselves and their stuntwomen. 

“We started preparing three months before we [start] filming, and then we had a coach with us during the shoot and we trained for up to two hours a day,” she shared. 

She added, “I really wanted to make that scene look as believable as possible, so we filmed it with real stuntwomen rather than doing it with VR and special effects.” 

This included Adèle’s training with sniper for her role as the team’s markswoman. “By the end of the shoot she was a total pro, she didn’t even blink when firing shots,” Mélanie said. 

Wingwomen is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer below: