Elle

Elle –director Paul Verhoeven  2016

Isabelle Huppert is today's Euro superstar,  there is no actress like her, anywhere. Such are the extremes to which she will go, she was the only credible candidate to play the lead in Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. The book on which Elle was based - "Oh..." by Philippe Dijan - had already been spotted by Huppert, but she was not Verhoeven’s first choice. The Dutch director of Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Black Book and Robocop had originally intended to make the film in the US, but could find no actress to take on the lead. Once he relocated to Europe, Huppert was in, as was his luck. Had something similar happened in the development stage of Showgirls, a better choice of lead may have been forced on him and a different film may have resulted.

The character - Michelle Leblanc - is a new kind of woman she has said in the press. This is debatable, I would say she is a 21st century woman in control of her destiny, who has a unique way of dealing with disaster. Having been raped by a hooded intruder in her modernist home, she dusts herself down and carries on with her routine. She doesn’t cry, call the police or ring a friend. However, she does look at her work colleagues with suspicion when it becomes clear her attacker moves in her everyday circle. She tells her closest friends what has happened at a restaurant, but it is without emotion or need for sympathy. Such is the steely way she relates the events, it is apparent she can deal with such an outrage as another nasty problem, no more. Huppert radiates power, confidence, success and inner strength in another remarkable performance. So much of her emotional life is stored away inside; her face gives little away. Such is her charisma, you can believe she would do some of the more bizarre things in the plot, like go into a basement to see a new boiler with the chief suspect. Nevertheless, you do have to wonder why she would do such a thing.

This incredible film is up there with the best of both Huppert and Verhoeven’s careers. It works like a mirror on the audience, how you react depends on you and your values. A panellist on Radio 4's Front Row condemned the film for the way she doesnt report the rape to the police. The other panelists found themselves apologising for having praised it. Leblanc has a thoroughly modern life, running a video game company which produces violent games laced with sexual imagery and dialogue. She has a complicated love life and a difficult mother who comes to a dinner party with her toyboy lover. She also happens to have been involved in a killing spree her father went on when she was ten. Normal she is not. Yet Huppert is mesmeric in this most difficult of roles. Having already triumphed in The Piano Teacher, Michael Hanneke's raw tale of sexual extremes and perversion, and Ma Mere, a less well received story of incest, Huppert is believable as the cold and controlling protagonist in Elle. Only Asia Argento could have carried this part off and still retain an audience’s interest without tittering or groaning in the wrong places.  This film is a must see that will revive Verhoeven’s reputation. Huppert's reputation is already gold plated, but she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, so in some ways she has gained from this fortuitous partnership too.