La Femme Nikita, also called Nikita, is a 1990 action thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Anne Parillaud as the title character, a teen criminal who is handed a life sentence for murdering policemen during an armed pharmacy robbery. Her government handlers fake her death and recruit her as a professional assassin. After intense training, she starts a career as a talented killer, where she struggles to balance her work with her personal life. Her career progresses until a mission in an embassy goes awry.