Elle

This was a great, great movie. I loved it from beginning to end. It had many surprises and took a decent amount of time in delving into the psyche of the main character. My only complaint is that it wasnt longer.

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.

The DVD was received with a crack in the spindle hold. Will not allow DVD player to read the disc. Asking for a replacement if available.

Sometimes the stars align for a film, as is the case with the legendary French actress, Isabelle Huppert taking the lead in Paul Verhoevens in-your-face thriller, Elle. Both the story and the star are superbly matched, here. It is almost cliche to say that Verhoeven is controversial. Hardly any of his English-language films, from Robocop to Basic Instinct did not generate strident conversations. Elle was not different -- is no different -- in its uncomfortable look at the role a strong-willed woman plays in a still male-dominated society. A middle-aged CEO of a computer gaming company in Paris is attacked in her home. Not particularly unique, except that rather than reporting the rape to the police -- which, lets face it, probably wouldnt do any good -- she decides to take matters into her own hands and find the perp herself. She might have gotten more than she bargained for as the rapist begins taunting her, and without spoiling anything, when she finds out who it is it is not only surprising, but a bit anti-climactic. Verhoeven and his lead actress use the unusual, but clearly-told story as a vehicle for interrogating issues of sexual predation, sexism in the corporate world and much else. Rather well, I think.

This was a magnificently paced and darkly woven tale! Fantastic female lead actress- not difficult to see why she is a legend. I gave a lot of unsolicited advice to the characters as I was watching the film. A home security system would have wrecked the whole plot. It is not for the faint of heart with the home invasion(s), physical altercations etc. However, the entire film will cleverly bring up timely and charged topics from the news and struggles of todays world.

It was a little confusing, but it was worth the watch.

Too. Violent

I freely admit that, being male, my concept of female enablement may not be what it should be. If, to you, the phrase means a film about a middle-aged woman striving to keep her partnership going while solving personal problems with her mother, father, partner, son, and daughter-in-law while dealing with being raped at the start of the film then this film will meet your criteria, as she succeeds at everything, in one sense or another. But the trailer identifies Verhoeven (correctly) as the director of /Basic Instinct/, thus making some implications, and, trust me on this, this is /no/ /Basic Instinct/. Not even close. It is well done, to be sure. It is more like /Parenthood/ would have been, had that picture focused on the single parent and ignored the related families. But /Parenthood/ was and is /far/ more entertaining. I also found one aspect somewhat interesting: the dialogue followed a pattern familiar to me from such films as /The Valet/ and /Moliere/. Since those films were farces, I had concluded that these patterns were used in farces, but this is no farce. So, apparently, the French talk this way all the time. Whod a guessed?

Excellent acting but a very dark cinema.

Sometimes the stars align for a film, as is the case with the legendary French actress, Isabelle Huppert taking the lead in Paul Verhoevens in-your-face thriller, Elle. Both the story and the star are superbly matched, here. It is almost cliche to say that Verhoeven is controversial. Hardly any of his English-language films, from Robocop to Basic Instinct did not generate strident conversations. Elle was not different -- is no different -- in its uncomfortable look at the role a strong-willed woman plays in a still male-dominated society. A middle-aged CEO of a computer gaming company in Paris is attacked in her home. Not particularly unique, except that rather than reporting the rape to the police -- which, lets face it, probably wouldnt do any good -- she decides to take matters into her own hands and find the perp herself. She might have gotten more than she bargained for as the rapist begins taunting her, and without spoiling anything, when she finds out who it is it is not only surprising, but a bit anti-climactic. Verhoeven and his lead actress use the unusual, but clearly-told story as a vehicle for interrogating issues of sexual predation, sexism in the corporate world and much else. Rather well, I think.