💬 Review Elle by nomevisss

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nomevisss

Veteran Lv7️⃣
Member for 1 year
Name of the movie you are reviewing: Elle

The everyday life of a middle aged businesswoman after dealing with a traumatic situation in her house.

Review:
When i started to be interested on the fabulous world of cinema, french cinema was always in one of the first usually from all type of revolutions in the industry from the beginning. And it wasn't until i faced with Elle directed by Paul Verhoeven and leaded by a unknown actress for me at the time, Isabelle Huppert. And oh boy! oh boy! What a pleasant surprise, i remember i saw some french movies but i never got why it was outstanding about it from the one' i saw until i finally got with this, in my opinion, a modern jewel.


Everything started when in the first 5 minutes of the movie, we see Isabelle laying down on the floor, petrified, with her black dress up and the room with her broken vessels on the floor and a black cat getting around the room whilst she was perplexed of what it seems the after time she was raped. She get up in the room and got to the bathroom where in between the bubbles of her jacuzzi she started bleeding, and then, there it is, the what it feels like magic seeing all type of emotions like an storyboard from Isabelle Huppert, then, even watching the movie; i have to start watching what that woman did, in less than 15 minutes i was trapped with her borderline traumatized/wanting to dissociate from the present to try to process or forget what happened, the first minutes the only sound we listening it's
her movements, taking all the broken pieces of the floor. along the radio and enviroment sounds like when you move in a full water bathtub, it's an uncomfortable figurative silence.

After time now i have saw around 10 movies from Huppert, she's very prolific but it's not a lie the movies vary a lot from quality; but the acting of Isabelle was superb, cosmically superb, i was shocked when i saw back in the day she was nominated for the Academy Award taking in consideration the tone of the movie, she's rape, she deals with it emotionally along having an affair with the boyfriend of her best friend, problems with his adult ingenue son Vincent, and the problems along some of her workers in her business (which it's very interesting creative decision, it was a videogame production company) along dealing with her problematic past. So we have our leading character as a troubled woman that it's trying to make her through all these issues aside from the fact she lived a traumatic situation. I don't know how to express enough, all this complexity and monumental life situation, it relies comfortably on such a veteran and virtuoso performer like Isabelle Huppert is, there's a new movie i want to review called 'Possession'' were we have another very revere and highly esteemed french actress, Isabelle Adjani; maybe Isabelle with an H doesn't have the effusive and explosiveness from Adjani, but her intense restrained and calm demeanor it's equally attractive.


I could understand why so many more mainstream occidental actresses didn't wanted to sign on the role; this it's not a movie about a woman who have go through an abhorrent situation, but how she pull herself together, doesn't go to the police to report the incident, but just dealing alone in her privacy to maintain stability in her life, among attending aforementioned problems... And also, developing a sexual relationship with his neighbor, which not only was his rapist at the beginning, but after she knew it was him on a repeated encounter latter in the film; she let herself try this type of sexual experimentation when he only can get hard if it's involved a roleplay violent recreation of a perceived aggressive and non-consensual intercourse.


There's a lot of nude scenes, and the rape scenes are very intense, especially when Michéle (Isabelle's character) tries to get the way that his neighbor and knew to be rapist, Patrick. Now this it's not something that we know from the beginning, it's a resolution we got later in the film (i'll say a little more than half of length) were surely it causes a big impact, we know Michéle after Patrick in one ocassion helps her to feel safe in her house after there was somebody spying in her house; and then we see another shocking scene of Isabelle looking through binoculars his neighbor and jerking off at the same time, spying how he was moving some sculptures around his house in christmas, front at Michéle's.


Laurels are not going just to Isabelle's, but to Paul too, this in my opinion, it's a very honest and audacious revision of how a woman it's having a complicated relationship and dealing with emotions from something as freighting as rape whilst not forgetting her past and how shaped her personality too. It's not an erotic thriller, even if some people would like to see it that way for the mere sense that you can see the naked body sometimes not just from Isabelle but for other actors in the cast.


I have see something along french movies it's that, most of them with or without realising it, they let a lot of black humour pandering around that sometimes seems more involuntary than others; when Michéle throws nonchalantly her mothers ashes on a bridge, how she talks about with the nurse that help bring his son's baby how she couldn't connect with him at the beginning and how she even that loves him, knows he's nothing out of ordinary and find his average skill radically acceptable, when Vincent (his son) girlfriend it's giving birth and both of them are textbook aryans, and the baby born to be a looking mixed brown-white baby; and one of Vincent (i don't remember the name of the actor, oops) son of Michéle bring his best friend who happens to be a black men, watches him with suspicion noticing how the baby looks lots like him instead of his own son, among other to be honest very fun situations.


The movie it takes itself seriously, and it's refreshing to see how yes, Michéle was a victim of something horrid but her life (excluding abnormal consequential events) continue and the person it's not just a victim: they can be the ones who inflict pain on others (she sleep with her best friend husband) have sense of humour, continue working, among other situations. I see the relationship with her mother very interesting to explore, she doesn't have a good relationship with her mother, one of the most hilarious scenes (i have to said that even the humour it's involuntary, the scene and the scene it's not make to be funny, sometimes it just happens') when she have a stroke in Michéle's holiday dinner and after she have a conversation with, what i think it's a neurologist or a nurse talking about the state of her mother in the hospital, when she thinks that her mother it's lying and somehow biologically made her have a cerebrovascular self-attack, something important to denote it's that Michéle doesn't report her rape attack because she it's the daughter of a priest who killed around 20+ people in her neighborhood, along pets because the parents of said childs, didn't want Michéle's father to bless their kids before going to school, and Michéle's as a child helping his dad to burn his neighborhood in flames, in the story when this happened; the event was widely coverage nationally, and become an infamous incident; even in Michéle's having this bad relationship with law by manipulation and as proxy guilt, she have growth after the event and took her life by her hands.


Here, something that i like about french movies it's that even if the approach can be grotesque or surrealist, the themes can be very interesting; like how not having a loving relationship with their parents but more distant and diplomatic can exist, even the dislike of one of the parents too; one of the most impressive scenes from the movie it's when Michéle's, after her mother's dead, goes to prison to visit his father as a type of cosmical debt promise she give to her mother alive but not fulfill, and his dad kills himself; and we have this scene were Michéle's with despise and hate, whisper to his dad dead body he was a coward for not seeing her, on a society were having a close relationship with your parents it's expected, especially with mothers; this movie shows the opposite as a french movie would talk about this themes that seem taboo and people don't realize it (for whatever reason, to be honest).

I see very interesting how she have such a amicable relationship with his husband, and even having a serious conversation that even she loves him, she's not going back to him because once she punch her; another level type of maturity, or a toxic behaviour, i don't know; but it was interesting how close they're to each other besides of the reason why they finish their relationship, enough for in real life persons to never speak again. And even how she takes care of him from future relationships, one that happens in the movie with a bikram yoga and much younger teacher, and this it's not a relationship who it's going on for the sake of having a good relationship with their son, vincent. It's because they like each other, so much.

Talking about maturity; after Michéle in the party of the release of the new videogame of her company (which seems huge) happens so much, she talked about how she was having an affair with her husband, at the end of the movie when Michéle's is leaving flowers to both of her parents, she's honest with her feelings with her friend about the reasons she have sex in her back with him; but ended up still continue with their friendship as if what happens was a superfluous cathy fight, when it fact it's something a lot of people would take as a serious betrayal (and not less so). Same as the wife of Patrick, when she told Michéle she was happy that for a while she give to him what he needed to maintain his sanity and stability, which she knew about it but still living with him and worse, living under the same roof, i wonder what kind of relationship they got because in their interactions, it's not weird or uncomfortable, they seem happy to each other; maybe he was going madman around the city trying to get his sexual needs or anxieties calm whilst he was a decent person in their livinghood , or at least it's what i think after just the emission of the actress delivery on a couple lines.

I don't know how to explain this situation, or multiple around, but it's nevertheless interesting from a creative standpoint and for a possible real life scenario perspective from cultural, values or philosophical expositions they got in their life, but it fun and somehow insightful seeing the movie, it gives you a little bit of everything. And i don't have anything in the movie importantly that disgust me or wonder what happened because the question wasn't answer from the story perspective, maybe could be an exposition, showed or description of how successful Michéle's business was, but i'm being VERY, very nitpicking here.

As much as i love Natalie Portman in Jackie, Isabelle was robbed that Academy Award, it's rare we see such complex and uncomfortable great giving performances being nominated for an important and somewhat prestigious award as the Academy's giving attention to movies like Elle, among other, nonetheless and thankfully, the Academy's it's not the only measurable achievement of weight that we can estimate or quantify how much acclaim and commendation a piece of work holds, and i'm happy Isabelle got recognize for such a bold and risk career decision; being reward with a César Award (the Academy Award equivalent for French cinema), and the National Society of Film Critics Award from U.S, for name a few, also, plaudits for Patrick's actor (Laurent Lafitte) for the same risk career move for his performance and Paul Verhoeven for not letting himself being chained to repeat another Basic Instincts movie and go back to his roots, where in Europe cinema, with his flaws, they tend to be fairer with recognition of brave and well done movies more than in the U.S.

Would you recommend this to other users? If you don't get trigger easily by rape, violent kinks and black humour, absolutely.

Rating(1-5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 
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