How does the character of Lynn Bracken in LA Confidential conform to the typical role of the Femme Fatale

The Femme Fatale is a role adopted by many female characters in 1940's Noir style films. The Femme Fatale is a French translation literally meaning dangerous woman, or according to the dictionary, means 'A woman of great seductive charm who leads men into compromising or dangerous situations.'
The character of Lynn Bracken in LA Confidential therefore conforms to this role by not only the typical aesthetic appearance, but of her nature of bringing men into compromising situations, and deviant behaviour.
Before even watching the film, we are shown the image of Lynn Bracken on the cover of the DVD case, in which she is composed being the centre of the shot, where she makes eye contact to the camera and thus the audience, and looks down on them, whilst wearing clothing which highlights her femininity. All of these are key signifiers to the audience that she is the Femme Fatale, due to her beauty, power and self confidence she appears in control and dangerous to the audience. 

In the first scene which we are introduced to her character, the director has purposefully chosen clothing to connote certain ideas about the character, and give the audience an impression of what to expect from her. In the first scene, Lynn is shown wearing a long black cape lined with a pure white around her face, with her blonde hair, flawless skin, and striking red lipstick. The extreme contrasting colours of black and white reflect her moral ambiguity and connote contrasting ideas about the character, one being that she is pure and innocent, supported by her blonde hair making her appear almost angelic to the audience and the other being that she is dark, evil, and deceitful  . This insinuates to the audience that she is a 'bad' character, but she was once good, or has the potential to be good. Her striking red lipstick can also be viewed as a signifier of the danger that is to come, because of this character, making her again seem threatening to the audience. By wearing something so out of place such as a cloak, it makes the audience wonder what she is hiding from the audience, adding a sense of mystery about this character that there is perhaps more than meets the eye with Lynn, as so often with Femme Fatales.
The way in which the camera moves, also highlights the 'Male Gaze' as the camera slowly pans across her feminine features, as if through a mans eyes, therefore portraying the femme fatale as a beautiful entrancing object, as so many men mistake her to be, and it is as if the audience can see the male falling into the trap of lust after her, not looking beyond her physical appearance to the dangers she could posses.

Another typical Femme Fatale trait of which Lynn appears to possess, is her ability to manipulate and control men, by seeming vulnerable and sincere and using her feminity to get men to do as she pleases. As shown from the image by which she has to get a client to leave, she acts upset by the news, and promises to 'make up for it' as if she is genuinely sorry that he has to leave, and physically takes control by holding his neck and putting her finger against his mouth, an action similar to that of a mother quietening her child. This shows the audience how she can so easy manipulate men and 'train them' to respond how she wants them to. It also shows the audience how good she appears to be at lying to men, making them believe what they want to believe, when the audience know that she does not truly feel this way, and that he is no more than a client to her. Because she needs to posses these qualities for her job, it makes the audience question if they can truly trust her, and her intentions with Bud White, or if it is all just a scheme to lead to his downfall.
Miss Bracken also participates in a plot to anger her lover, Bud White, by sleeping with his co-worker who he already deems as his enemy in the police force because of their extreme differing views, which nearly results in him killing Exley and stopping the investigation, however, the two work together and figure out that the provocation was in fact part of a larger plot, and Lynn does not then ultimately lead Bud or Exley to their downfalls.

However, some aspects are shown in the character of Miss Bracken that do not conform to the stereo-typical femme fatale role, such as her vulnerability, by which we see her crying and genuinely upset to see that she has hurt the man we believed she cared about, and then betrayed, and the audience are assured that she is no longer pretending as she is shown to look guilt ridden before Bud White shows at her house, and then once he has left, she sinks to the floor in despair of what she has done. This subverts from the typical femme fatale, who is shown to be ruthless and cunning and knows what she is doing from the start, and does not care about the consequences as a result of her doing.

Another way in which Lynn appears vulnerable and sincere to the audience about her feelings for Bud, are the ways in which she exposes her vulnerable side, even by appearing to wear no make up, and just have woken up, she seems to feel comfortable with sharing herself in a vulnerable way that she is not perhaps used to with Bud. As well as this, she also comforts and supports Bud when he is loosing confidence in himself, and re-evaluating his role in the police force and with his co workers, and restores his confidence which enables him to continue with his quest to track down the real killers, and solve the case. 

In despite of this, Miss Bracken is essentially revealed to have true intentions, as she is seen at the end to be caring for Bud, which makes the audience believe that she was not in fact the deviant femme fatale we believed her to be, but a vulnerable woman, trying to make a living, who had genuine feelings for a police officer who was pushed to make some difficult decisions that played heavily on her conscience, therefore in the end subverting heavily from the typical femme fatale role.