Elle

— Well, this one took me by surprise. I had some vague notion of what it would be based on the previews and the rave reviews Isabelle Huppert was getting for her performance. What I got was a complicated thriller that only Paul Verhoeven could put together making full use of Huppert’s subtle talent. It isn’t at all fair to describe it as about a woman who’s raped, isn’t sure what she thinks about the rape, finds out who the rapist is, and then takes her time figuring out her own feelings and what, if anything, she should do about them. There’s a lot more going on with plenty of unspoken looks and uncomfortable feelings, eventually coexisting with an undertone of awkward perversities and power struggles. It’s mostly a very dark comedy in a world of self-absorbed, privileged, neurotics with complicated relationships and fantasies. If you missed it when it was in theaters, see it now that it’s on DVD.

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[2016, 130 min. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling, and Virginie Efira.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/elle-2016