It may have one of cinema's most impressive female ensembles, but The 355, which has landed on Netflix today in the US, is no girlie flick.
Espionage action thrillers like this used to be dominated by men, and any in the cast played secondary — and often purely decorative — roles. Which, for the film's producer and star, Jessica Chastain, was the point of making her movie.
Released in 2022, this was just the second movie made under the Freckle Films banner, the production company launched by Chastain back in 2016. That same year, it also released The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, which saw her producing again, as well as playing the title role of TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker and winning a well-overdue Best Actress Oscar.
In The 355, she's abrasive CIA agent Mason Brown, forced to work under the radar when a new weapon of mass destruction is stolen, threatening to bring about World War III.
Despite signing up former associate and computer whizz Khadijah (Lupita Nyong’o), they can’t track it down, and decide to pull in some international agents to help. German Marie (Diane Kruger), psychologist Graciela (Penelope Cruz) and Chinese MSS agent Lin (Fan Bingbing) all bring their individual talents to the hunt, which takes them all over the world at breakneck speed. But, as well as finding themselves getting closer to the asset itself, they unexpectedly discover corruption in some high and powerful places.
See what we mean about an impressive line-up? And they’re all formidable yet fun in their different ways. Mason is fearsome and very savvy, but full of insecurities underneath her prickly surface. Marie describes herself simply as “a mess”, while Khadijah has been out of action for a while and is – sensibly – more than a little wary about returning to the field. Graciela takes it one step further: she’s scared to death of the mission and just wants to be at home to her children. Lin is late to the party, but makes a big physical impact in a very short space of time.
Male agents do get a look-in. Check further down the cast list and you’ll find Edgar Ramirez as a Colombian agent who briefly gets his hands on the device and a then- emergent Sebastian Stan as CIA agent Nick, Mason’s former partner, both professionally and privately. But, given the thinking behind the film, the tables have turned.
Their characters are the ones short on both subtlety and both actors are very much in supporting roles.
The film had a turbulent time reaching its audience. Chastain had the initial idea back in 2017 when she was a member of the jury at Cannes. For all its action, twisty plot and eventual starry cast, raising the money was tricky and, by the time it was ready to hit the screen, the pandemic had brought everything to a standstill and the release was delayed. It was a blow to its box office performance, yet audiences who turned out to see it gave it 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, regarding it as a fun action thriller. Even the critics, who were less than kind, had to admit that the knock-out ensemble at the centre of the story was a real coup.
A subsequent release online proved even more popular but, despite a denouement that pointed very much towards a sequel, it didn’t happen. This wasn’t going to be Charlie’s Angels for the 2020s.
But audiences at the time weren’t wrong. This is an enjoyable espionage thriller with a cast that gives it real star quality. Packed with all the ingredients we expect from a glossy actioner – exotic locations, hair-raising car chases and twists in the tail – it perhaps lets itself down by never taking the genre into new territory. But this is one of those instances where familiarity breeds entertainment, not contempt.
Chastain is just one of a number of top name actresses who have become producers with the specific aim of opening up storytelling to the female experience and viewpoint. Since The 355, she’s also produced and starred in Mothers’ Instinct (2024) and TV miniseries George & Tammy (2023), winning a SAG Award for her performance. At much the same time as she launched her production company, Reese Witherspoon was opening the doors at Hello Sunshine to tell women-driven stories. The Golden Globe-winning Big Little Lies (2017 – 2019) followed on TV, together with a number of other shows, while she produced as well as starred alongside Will Ferrell earlier this year in the comedy You’re Cordially Invited.
Perhaps the most successful producer/actress at the moment is Margot Robbie, whose LuckyChap was founded in 2014. Its first feature, I, Tonya (2017), found immediate critical success with Robbie receiving an Oscar nomination and co-star
Allison Janney winning Best Supporting Actress. Robbie also fronted Birds Of Prey (2020), as well as producing, and Barbie, as we all know, turned into a global phenomenon, heading the box office charts in 2023 with global earnings of $1,447,038,421. Stats don’t get much more impressive.
The 355 is available now on Netflix in the US and is currently available to rent via Prime Video in the UK.
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