Elle

This is a decent movie although its provocative and not entirely believable when it comes to women, trauma, and sex. Isabelle Huppert is a strong female lead who has a casual attitude toward affairs and sexual fantasies, seemingly as a result of a traumatic event in childhood, but her character never really rings true. She plays the role well, though, and is appealingly enigmatic to the end. The different parts of the movie dont quite cohere: the perfunctory childhood tragedy feels forced into the script and Hupperts character is too unwaveringly blank and detached. That appealing laissez faire attitude that she has turns out to be disappointing in the end, which is way too predictable.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be giving anything starring one of my favorite screen stars a poor review. So many glowing ones here, and yet I am stumped. I loved The Piano Teacher in which she played a sexually suppressed and twisted woman. And I have loved just about everything else shes done. I had high hopes for this film when it started. She looks fabulous; the rest of the cast is great. And yet - it just didnt add up on so many levels, most notably the physical. How could it be that this woman is raped and beaten again and again and yet comes up glowing and bouncy, able to dance with her rapist after having her knee gashed by him. Why is her face seen as perfectly alabaster after multiple throttlings by her horrible abuser? I was somehow led to believe that she extracts her revenge on him, and I thought that was going to be in some clever, interesting way, but no - in the end she is as despicable as the rapist in my opinion, leaving it to an innocent to do the killing. Is her sang froid in so many sensitive situations supposed to imply that she does, after all, take after her psychopathic father? The finale seems to prove this; what she has done to her best friend. But whats particularly troublesome is that she is forgiven, again and again, by the people she uses. That does not ring true. A person like that might be feared but she would also be hated by others, not celebrated and adored. So for me, this is less about a poor woman who is raped than about a total narcissist/sociopath who has no qualms about using everyone around her, including her son, for her twisted needs and desires. No, this one just didnt add up. Mostly, though, it was her lack of any scars or physical repercussions of rape. That is an insult to women who have suffered rape and live with the mental and phsyical damages. Im shocked that critics didnt understand that. The cool, attractive cookie role not only doesnt work here, its destructive to women, and I would not advise any woman I know to see it.

Interesting. An ode to Isabelle Hupperts beauty.

Loved this movie. Not for everyone though, just as Girl With The Dragon Tattoo wouldnt appeal to everyone.

Is the intent of this movie to tell a story that justifies rape? Very little about this movie is likable. There is some good acting, but the script is un-savable. All of the characters are despicable and there is no redemption. What is meant to be a climax and wrap up of the story feels like it was added only because a focus group said it should be. Plus, how old are the characters supposed to be? Seems everyone in the show is 15-20 years older than their characters. Good for them for being able to play younger but it made the story a little harder to follow and believe.

Weird movie

(Spoilers)...Paul Verhoven, a talented filmmaker, has a penchant for the somewhat kinky. He sort of achieves it here, having his heroine become lovers with the man who rapes her. For me this is a psychological conceit I just cant buy. It destroys any semblance of character credibility, something Verhoven can also lean towards. In addition, the main character, Elle, is an emotional blank, responding to her horrendous childhood only with a steely resolve. We never see inside her. I applaud the Amazon reviewers who have correctly rated this overrated film.

Elles psyche is as bizarre as the videos she produces. She generated no empathy from me and no interest in her story. Miss Sloane is almost equally strange but I admired her smarts and strategy. Fred Dotterrer

good

This is easily one of the best films of 2016. It is very dark & very funny --if you have a taste for twisted humor. If thought that (the excellent) Gone Girl was hilarious then youll love this movie. Isabelle Huppert gives one of the best performances Ive ever seen by an actress. She or Amy Adams in Arrival shouldve walked away with the Best Actress Oscar (of course, Adams wasnt even nominated). Director Paul Verhoeven has never shied away from controversy & he embraces it once again here but without the outlandishness in his other films. The story is compelling. The script is excellent. This movie rest on Hupperts performance and she is spectacular.