While Barbara Brennan (Michele Lee) and her daughter Megan (Justine Bateman) are on vacation in Paris, Megan takes a video on her camcorder that shows a woman (Sonia Petrovna) shooting a man. The shooter, Contancia, will do anything to find and destroy the tape. Her husband, Bernard Vandelle (Jean-Pierre Cassel), is the chief of police and will use all his power and resources to help her.
The Fatal Image contains examples of:
- And Starring: "Jean-Pierre Cassel in the role of Vandelle"
- Attempted Rape: One of Megan's kidnappers tries to force himself on her in the basement where she's being held, only for her to be rescued at the last minute.
- Camera Fiend: Megan is constantly taking videos. Barbara complains, "With that thing stuck in your eye, how can you enjoy the sights, the atmosphere?"
- Cry into Chest: Megan cries into Barbara's chest after she's rescued from the kidnappers.
- Disappeared Dad: Megan's father left the family years ago. She talks to him on the phone about once a month and gets a card on her birthday if she's lucky.
- External Combustion: The villains plant a bomb in Inspector Hemery's (François Dunoyer) car. He finds it and drags himself and Barbara to safety just before it goes off.
- Female Gaze: Megan likes to check out men through the viewfinder.
- Flashed-Badge Hijack: When Megan is kidnapped, Inspector Hemery drags a man off his motorbike, saying "Stop. Police. Get off." Then he speeds off after the kidnappers. After he loses the kidnappers, he returns the bike to its angry owner.
- Handbag of Hurt: A goon tries to hold Barbara at gunpoint, but she hits him with her bag and then punches him in the face.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Barbara smashes a car window with a rock. The alarm goes off and the owners come running. Barbara threatens them with Hemery's gun and says, "We need your keys. Because this is an emergency." The owner tosses her the keys.
- Mama Bear: Barbara violently protects Megan from the attempted rapist.
- More Dakka: Goons attack Barbara and Hemery in the hotel and pursue them from room to room and across the rooftop, blasting away with their machine guns all the while.
- Overcrank: Used during some shots of goons firing machine guns at Barbara and Hemery.
- Perverted Sniffing: Before the man guarding Megan tries to rape her, he sniffs her hair and rubs his hands over her face while talking about how he'd like to be her boyfriend.
- Ransacked Room: Barbara and Megan come back to the hotel to find the room ransacked, but with nothing stolen. Megan had the camcorder with her at the time.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: Contancia is shown in bed with Vandelle, with him shirtless and her wearing his pajama top.
- Shovel Strike: Barbara tries to shoot Megan's attempted rapist, but the gun is empty, so she grabs a shovel and clobbers him with it instead.
- Toplessness from the Back: Megan is shown this way when she's changing behind a screen at a flea market.
- Vehicular Kidnapping: Luc (Francois Delaive) holds Megan at gunpoint in a flea market and drags her into a car.
- Zipping Up the Bodybag: A news video shows the victim, Joaquin Prades (Francois Guetary), being zipped into a bodybag.