Elle

If you arent into reading subtitles for a French movie, give this a miss. Very disappointing.

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.

Such a good movie. The lead access is a doll .

The movies that are not in English need to be labeled as such. We do not care to watch movies with the subtitle words throughout. Thus this movie was not of any use to us. Should get a refund but no means to ask or apply for one. We only watched a few minutes and then went elsewhere.

ugh, Huppert is a great actor but geez, the storyline is rather unbelievable, and the happy ending is rather absurd....

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.

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.

What a disappointment. Very hard to watch with all the misogynist situations and references. While Isabelle Huppert remains one of the most capable and gifted actresses on the planet--found everything about her character off-putting and sad. She didnt win at the patriarchys game, she just was better at it than the surrounding men. Gives you the impression that French citizens are spoiled, effete and rather dull--which they are not. A much better film starring Huppert, Comedy of Power, gets everything right that this one doesnt. Wish I could get my $5.99 refunded.

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.

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.