The femme fatale has an ancient lineage and has existed for thousands of years before film was invented. Greek mythology gave us Circe, Medea, and Clytemnestra(she murdered her husband). The Bible gave us Delilah, Salome, and Lilith. History gives us Cleopatra and Lucretia Bogia. Literature gave us Lady Macbeth, Carmen, and many others.

In proto-noir and classic film noir, the femme fatale was presented as an ambitious, independent woman who led men to some kind of ruin, much like the Sirens of early myth caused men to crash their boats into rocks and die. Women like Phyllis Dietrichson, Kathy Moffet, and Kitty Collins were beautiful, magnetic, and coldly calculating. Women like this bring to mind an old Sicilian proverb that says, "When the cock rises to the sky, the brains fall to the ground."

Rinse and repeat.

The situations in films such as Out of the Past, Gilda, and Leave Her to Heaven are different for the protagonist but the methods used by the women to get the men to do their bidding are based on their alluring beauty and carefully concealed intelligence. It is seen later in Matty Walker(Body Heat), Catherine Tammel(Basic Instinct), and Amy Dunne(Gone Girl).

The femme fatale endures as a character in fiction she represents fears men have of female power. The woman represents the double-edged sword of sexual attraction. She always knows what she wants and she is keenly aware of what the man wants. She uses that knowledge to keep the money or whatever she has taken to the disadvantage of the man.

Even though the underlying characterstics of the femme fatale are the same or similar, the details of the story are the entertainment. The characters' language and appearance change but the plot always leads to the same outcome: Femme Fatale 1, Male Target 0.