I still don't know how to feel about this movie. Verhoeven takes one of the most, if not THE most, controversial topics of 2016 and manages to absolutely avoid taking any political or moral positions. I don't know if that is brave or cowardly.
It is neither a feminist movie nor a conservative movie. It's more of a nihilist satire.
Verhoeven is back. His satirical irony applied to the sensitive topic of rape might sounds troubling, but Verhoeven manages to make a perfect dark satire about morale. Isabelle Huppert is a perfect femme fatale.
Interesting psychological thriller drama with a GREAT Huppert…...but the motivation and action off all characters (after telling her closest friends and ex husband about the rape, everybody react shocked…..and than move on and never talk about it) is a bit mmmmm. Verhoeven knows how to push buttons....
When you need someone to incarnate a sexually complicated woman, you can hardly do better than Isabelle Huppert. In Paul Verhoeven's Elle ("Her"), Huppert's Michèle Leblanc is attacked and raped in her own home, then proceeds to just go about her business. How and why? It won't be the last incident either as the film becomes more of a thriller, but I would still categorize it as a character study. In a way, Michèle is consistently violated by the people around her - either embarrassing her with their own lusty displays of affection, harassing her at work (where she's working on a violent, sexual video game), or being insistent lovers who won't take no for an answer. But Michèle has a history of "going along" with whatever's happening to her, which the film explores. The pervacious Verhoeven raises some uncomfortable issues with his kink, but it's Huppert who elevates this well above the ill-judged smut it otherwise could have been. And there's so much happening in her life that even at the script level, it stretches beyond sex thriller tropes.
Pretty fascinatin' how harsh critics were with Passengers, a pretty good and original sci-fi, because of "sexist" and "problematic" behaviors by desperate characters presented with lifeboat dilemmas. 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet critics loved the sociopathically misogynistic Elle (90%+ on RT), and praised its 'moral ambiguity'!
I think it's because Passengers is a popcorn flick for the hoi polloi and critics believe the proles need clear moral guidance, while Elle is a French "art film" for The Smarts who are permitted morally complicated fiction.
This is all the more laughable because Elle is obviously just another seedy exploitation flick by Paul "Showgirls/Basic Instinct" Verhoeven. But its got Huppert and subtitles so it must be sophisticated!
Verhoeven knows how to make films, too bad he's so damn pretentious and cultivates this sick obsession with sex and violence. Would be great if Huppert could do some normal films again too.
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Comments 1 - 11 of 11
Rene Narciso
I still don't know how to feel about this movie. Verhoeven takes one of the most, if not THE most, controversial topics of 2016 and manages to absolutely avoid taking any political or moral positions. I don't know if that is brave or cowardly.It is neither a feminist movie nor a conservative movie. It's more of a nihilist satire.
jooeeri
Verhoeven is back. His satirical irony applied to the sensitive topic of rape might sounds troubling, but Verhoeven manages to make a perfect dark satire about morale. Isabelle Huppert is a perfect femme fatale.lachyas
Everyone's talking about the sexual politics of the film but I just want to play the robot dog spartacus video game.Earring72
Interesting psychological thriller drama with a GREAT Huppert…...but the motivation and action off all characters (after telling her closest friends and ex husband about the rape, everybody react shocked…..and than move on and never talk about it) is a bit mmmmm. Verhoeven knows how to push buttons....Yarnold66
Verhoeven channelling Brian de Palma.Siskoid
When you need someone to incarnate a sexually complicated woman, you can hardly do better than Isabelle Huppert. In Paul Verhoeven's Elle ("Her"), Huppert's Michèle Leblanc is attacked and raped in her own home, then proceeds to just go about her business. How and why? It won't be the last incident either as the film becomes more of a thriller, but I would still categorize it as a character study. In a way, Michèle is consistently violated by the people around her - either embarrassing her with their own lusty displays of affection, harassing her at work (where she's working on a violent, sexual video game), or being insistent lovers who won't take no for an answer. But Michèle has a history of "going along" with whatever's happening to her, which the film explores. The pervacious Verhoeven raises some uncomfortable issues with his kink, but it's Huppert who elevates this well above the ill-judged smut it otherwise could have been. And there's so much happening in her life that even at the script level, it stretches beyond sex thriller tropes.Limbesdautomne
Nice satire à la Chabrol. It may have a lack of daring.Read more in French on La Saveur des goûts amers.
greenhorg
Pretty fascinatin' how harsh critics were with Passengers, a pretty good and original sci-fi, because of "sexist" and "problematic" behaviors by desperate characters presented with lifeboat dilemmas. 30% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet critics loved the sociopathically misogynistic Elle (90%+ on RT), and praised its 'moral ambiguity'!I think it's because Passengers is a popcorn flick for the hoi polloi and critics believe the proles need clear moral guidance, while Elle is a French "art film" for The Smarts who are permitted morally complicated fiction.
This is all the more laughable because Elle is obviously just another seedy exploitation flick by Paul "Showgirls/Basic Instinct" Verhoeven. But its got Huppert and subtitles so it must be sophisticated!
julliette
The plot is disgusting and weird in a not good way. I love Elisabeth Huppert but no.rabsi1
Quite disappointing. An average thriller with not much of a message to send. It also has the most absurd plot ever.Joculator
Verhoeven knows how to make films, too bad he's so damn pretentious and cultivates this sick obsession with sex and violence. Would be great if Huppert could do some normal films again too.