On December 20 I wrote a review of “Things To Come” a movie starring Isabelle Huppert.   

 In it I said,

“Isabelle Huppert is one of those rare actresses who can be doing one thing while her face shows, expresses, shows deeper  emotions. Huppert is an interesting actress to watch and I am looking forward to seeing her in “Elle”, a much praised with Oscar talk performance, which can only add to her stellar resume.”

I saw “Elle”, for which she was just nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress, deservedly so, and who I will be rooting for on Sunday February 26 on the Oscar telecast. Up to seeing this movie I was hoping Ruth Negga would win for “Loving”. In any case they are more deserving than Emma Stone, who I have nothing against though her performance comes nowhere these two.

Isabelle Huppert plays Michele Leblanc, a video game executive, who, during the first scene of the movie, is brutally attacked and raped by a masked man. While there are flashbacks to this particular act there are also repeat attacks and Michele’s reaction to them seems to change from fear to desire almost as if she was controlling the man and what was happening.

There are many suspects from Patrick (Laurent Lafitte), a married neighbor, to Robert (Christian Berkel), Michele’s lover and whose wife Anne (Anne Consigny) is Michele’s best friend and business partner. There are also some of the men who work for her from one who doesn’t like her and another who follows her around like a puppy. There is also her ex-husband Richard (Charles Berling) not quite as successful as she is.

Along with her various reactions to her attacker Michele also has a 22-23 year old son Vincent (Jonas Bloquet)  who has a girlfriend Josie (Alice Isaac) and thinks he is the father of their child which is, obviously, wrong plus Josie having attitude to both Vincent and Michele. There is Michelle’s mother Irene (Judith Magre) who is very full of herself and has a stroke while in the background is her father who committed a horrendous mass homicide when Michele was a young girl and was in the middle of the surrounding publicity.

While Michelle is pulled in many directions along with trying to find out who her rapist was/is and wanting to control him and the situation Isabelle Huppert commands us, letting us see what she wants us to see, keep us guessing what she may be thinking and feeling but you believe everything she shows you.

Partially a character study and partially a psychological thriller “Elle” is a film with excellent performances, top production values from the soundtrack to the photography with sharp direction and a good screenplay all held together by Isabelle Huppert who, after 100 movies and at the age of 64, shows what the best acting is like!

A definite must see!

Movie Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPktWQUQzfQ