Film Forum

France, Germany, 2016
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling
Based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian
Screenplay by David Birke
Approx. 130 min. DCP.

"The opening scene of “Elle” is a shocker: a brutal sexual assault witnessed by a house cat and filmed with pitiless detachment…Everything that follows is, in some ways, even more shocking, as the movie — a masterpiece of suave perversity, directed by Paul Verhoeven — leads its audience through a meticulously constructed maze of ambiguity, scrambling our assumptions and expectations at every turn, dispensing discomfort and delight and daring us to distinguish one from the other." – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
 

Reviews

“The opening sequence of ELLE is just the start of the demented and exhilarating experience that is this movie… a high-wire act without a net.”
– Roger Ebert

“With her steely hauteur, Isabelle Huppert is utterly arresting in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative film. No other actor could have pulled it off.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian