Elle

What a sick, disturbing film this was! Everything about it bothered me...I only finished watching to see if there was some surprise ending that would make this strange story make sense, but NO there was no satisfying resolution. The main character was extremely unlikable as well. I wish so much that I had not watched this movie.

Intriguing story line, characterization and good acting. But...those French are famous for being all about love and sex. Well, here ya go. Violent sex. Affairs. Fantasy. Masturbation. Marital sex. Murderous sex. Same sex. Etc etc. So Elle is about Elle and Everyone else. I liked it once I settled in and let it be what it was - a sexy French film.

Isabelle Huppert is amazing in a story that is provocatively contrived yet with a grain of truth at its base. What starts out like some Hollywood revenge fantasy veers into workplace drama, deranged family farce and of course, sexual transgression. Its got all the earmarks of classic Verhoeven: venal men, strong, if bare breasted women, perverse twists, taboo toppling. the director seems to take especial glee in humiliating just about every character in some way or another. Its ultimately a pitch black comedy, with Huppert doing her best Buster Keaton: she takes a licking and pops back up with a sort of aggressive impassivity. It revels in going to extremes, but like a Lynch, Almodovar or Cronenberg movie makes weird sense on its own terms. The story is riffing on the phenomenon of how some victims of trauma come to find comfort, even pleasure in ritualized violence, BDSM, in this case, rape play. Hupperts character is the daughter of a notorious mass murderer grown up to be the CEO of a company that makes hyper violent video games. She seeks to dominate all around her, with mixed success, when a sexual assault puts her on a path of self discovery and acceptance. Really. Less in line with the directors more tepidly risque Hollywood output, Elle hearkens back to the giddy perversity of the The 4th Man. Which makes it kind of a homecoming for Verhoeven, finally returning to making the kind of movies he was clearly put on this earth to do.

Too. Violent

Kept hoping itd get better, but no.

Its a poor movie.

It was entertaining although very strange actions by all of the characters - the ending just left me blank waiting on something to happen- my husband thought it was good everything was tied up for ending - he liked it better than I but I found it difficult to believe the craziness of the characters actions- even though he bought from my account I wouldnt advise anyone to rent for 5.99 maybe when it drops to 2.98

Isabelle Huppert was outstanding. All the acting was excellent. On the surface, the plot seems straightforward enough, but it is not. The psychological profiles of the lead actress (Huppert) and the rapist were extremely complicated. to say the least. All of this is my opinion of course, but the character of Elle did not appeal to me. She was a mix of both masochist and sadist stemming from a hideous childhood trauma. The rapist was just that; a violent rapist who beat his victims. I dont know if the Director was trying to get a romantic spin on rape or not (I hope not), but Ill just keep to my opinion that they were two of the worse people I would never like to meet.

Interesting movie about a woman who is raped and plays a cat and mouse game with her attacker all the while secretly in a twisted lust with the experience. Shes a powerful woman working in a mans world, owning a video game company and trying to live life and escape her past. With a troubled relationship with her son and his girlfriend, her man lusting mother and her criminal father she becomes obsessed with her attacker and almost seemingly turned on as well. Its very different, a foreign film that goes slow at times but def keeps you guessing.

Agreed. Its dark and the second half of the movie will be very uncomfortable. At some points its almost comical - the gale force Parisian winds, the boiler room, and the black cat.