Elle (film)

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Movie
German title Cubit
Original title Cubit
Country of production France , Germany
original language French
Publishing year 2016
length 130 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Paul Verhoeven
script David Birch
production Saïd Ben Saïd ,
Michel Merkt
music Anne Dudley
camera Stéphane Fontaine
cut Job ter Burg
occupation

Elle (French for: she ) is a French - German erotic thriller by Paul Verhoeven from 2016 . It is based on the novel Oh ... by Philippe Djian and focuses on a self-confident entrepreneur, played by Isabelle Huppert , who is attacked and raped in her house , but as the daughter of a mass murderer avoids going to the police. With his first film in French, Verhoeven made a highly acclaimed return to the cinemas after a 10-year hiatus.

Elle has already won numerous awards, including the Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2016 and the Golden Globe Awards 2017 , each for Best Foreign Language Film , and the French César 2017 for Best Film . Elle also ran for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category , but was not nominated. In contrast, Isabelle Huppert entered the race for the Oscar for Best Actress. It didn't win the award, but it did win many others in the same category, including the 2017 Golden Globe Awards, the 2016 New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and the 2017 César.

Premiere was on 21 May 2016 under the competition for the Golden Palm of the 69th International Film Festival of Cannes . The film opened four days later in French and on February 16, 2017 in German cinemas.

action

The almost 50-year-old Michèle Leblanc, who lives single in Paris , is brutally attacked and raped by a masked man in her house in broad daylight . Instead of notifying the police, she clears up the traces of the crime, has the locks replaced, procures pepper spray and an ax - and continues to live her life as normal for the time being.

Michèle runs a small but successful computer game company with her friend Anna. She runs the business competently and confidently and knows how to assert herself against her predominantly younger, male employees. She finances a new apartment for her son Vincent, who works at a fast food chain and lets his pregnant friend Josie dominate and exploit him. Vincent comes from a divorced marriage to Richard, a university professor and less than successful writer. Richard started a relationship with a PhD student but is still drawn to Michèle. Meanwhile, Michèle has a secret affair with Anna's husband Robert. She also finds her new neighbor Patrick, a much younger, attractive stockbroker who lives in the house opposite with his arch-Catholic wife Rebecca.

Michèle mentions the attack in her closest circle of friends, but continues to refuse to call in the police. Your friends know why: since Michèle's father, a previously innocent citizen and practicing Catholic, apparently killed 27 people at random almost four decades ago and a dubious photo of the then 10-year-old girl Michèle suggested to the public that she could be complicit be at the mass murder, she and her mother are repeatedly exposed to hostility - currently reinforced by the fact that the life sentence to convicted father a renewed appeal for clemency has provided.

Michèle's rapist continues to put her under pressure. He sends her lewd messages, breaks into the house while she is away and masturbates on her sheets. A manipulated CGI animation that shows Michèle in the currently developed game as a rape victim is distributed in her company. She then has all the computers hacked - but finds out that the very person she hired to create the animation is out of the question as her rapist.

At a Christmas party with family and friends, Michèle, as the hostess, makes her neighbor Patrick secretly and unabashedly sexual advances. At the same time, she snubbed her mother Irène in front of everyone present when she announced that she wanted to marry her much younger lover Ralph. Irène then suffers a severe stroke . Before she dies, she asks her daughter again to visit her father. When Michèle does this, she is told that he hanged himself the night before, and she can only speculate whether the renewed refusal of his pardon or the announcement of her coming led to it. Her son Vincent, who is fighting for his little family happiness but sees himself even more questioned by the birth of a dark-skinned child, moves back in with Michèle after an argument with his girlfriend Josie escalates.

In another attack on her, Michèle injures her tormentor, reveals him as her neighbor Patrick and drives him to flight. The next day, however, she calls him for help when she is unable to free herself from her car after an accident. She has him take her home and treat her leg injury. When asked about the reason for his rapes, he replied that they were "necessary". Michèle realizes that he - unlike her - is not capable of consensual sex and lets himself into an erotic role play with him. She also triggers the next attack in the boiler room of his house, but apparently offers serious resistance so that he reaches the level of violence “necessary” for him.

At the release party organized by Vincent for the successful release of the new computer game, Michèle confesses to her friend Anna that she has an affair with Robert. She lets Patrick drive her home and on the way tells him to end the "sick" game and want to report him to the police. He understands this as an invitation to another attack and follows her into the house, where she apparently actually awaits him. Vincent returning home is faced with a clear rape scenario, which is why he kills the masked perpetrator from behind without hesitation. Michèle does not tell her son or the police about her true relationship with Patrick. His widow Rebecca moves away soon afterwards and surprises Michèle when he says goodbye with thanks for giving Patrick what he “needed” for at least a short time. Vincent and Josie find each other again and both seem a bit more mature. At the end there is also a reconciliation between Michèle and Anna, who has separated from Robert, wants to sell the house and brings the idea into play of moving in with her long-time friend.

production

The French film producer Saïd Ben Saïd suggested the novel by Philippe Djian as a film material to Verhoeven. The film was originally supposed to be produced in the USA and cast with American actors, so David Birke was hired as a screenwriter. At that time, Verhoeven knew David Birke, but did not know that he had mainly written B-movies up to now. However, Verhoeven couldn't find anyone in Hollywood who wanted to finance or produce the film, and all the actresses asked turned down the role. Isabelle Huppert, who knew the book and had already thought of a film adaptation, immediately accepted. The English script was therefore changed - the story is now set in France in a video game production company and no longer in the Chicago or Seattle film scene - then in close cooperation with Birke and Verhoeven by the Franco-British screenwriter Harold Manning (* 1968) translated into French. The film was produced by the Paris-based SBS production company in cooperation with several French production companies, a Belgian and a German Twenty Vision film production.

Elle was the first film Verhoeven, he has turned to a ten-year break, his first film with Isabelle Huppert, the first film he has shot with an exclusively French team and French actors and his first feature film ever to with digital cameras was shot .

The film was shot within 52 days, locations were the protagonist's house in Saint-Germain-en-Laye , various Parisian streets, the Père Lachaise cemetery and the like. a. All scenes were filmed simultaneously with two film cameras. The chief cameraman Stéphane Fontaine was supported by Lennert Hillege, who is not mentioned in the credits of the film. In an interview, Verhoeven referred to both equally as A cameras. Each scene was planned for two cameras, sometimes operating in close proximity to each other to allow for a continuity in which cuts were barely visible. No dollies or tripods were used when filming , the cameras were always on the shoulders of the cameramen. According to Verhoeven, this creates a kind of sense of observation , which increases the voyeur effect of the film. “The camera moves gently, almost voyeuristically”. "When you carry the camera on your shoulder, you breathe, there are always slight fluctuations in which the camera gives you a feeling of insecurity". According to Verhoeven, there are problems with coordination, but at the same time new freedoms for the cameramen and greater possibilities in film editing are opened up.

Fontaine chose two Red Dragon cameras for the cinematography . For the computer animations, Verhoeven was able to fall back on two existing video games from a Parisian production company, which were combined with one another.

Director Paul Verhoeven at the premiere of the film in Amsterdam (2016)

reception

Director and actor, Cannes 2016

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Verhoeven's direction and Huppert's acting were praised almost without exception. On the Rotten Tomatoes website , the film currently (as of May 2017) has a rating of 90%, based on 192 reviews and an average rating of 8/10. The bottom line is: “In Elle you see director Paul Verhoeven at top performance. He also benefits from an outstanding performance by Isabelle Huppert in the lead role. "

Hannah Pilarczyk from Spiegel-online says about Elle : “Announced as a revenge thriller, Elle's many comical moments are not least surprising . The violence that Huppert's character Michèle experiences is explicit. But her reactions to it - as well as to a number of other events in her life - are so unpredictable that one often laughs. And then there are also scenes in which 'Elle' is just plain comedy ”.

The film service rates Elle as “worth seeing” and writes: “The black-humored thriller, which works with sophisticated flashbacks, unfolds an absurdly bitter experimental arrangement on the verge of unbelievability, but comes up with subtle observations and is carried by an outstanding leading actress, the fearless one refreshing loner brings life to life. "

Rüdiger Suchsland from SWR says about the film: “A great thriller, worthy of a Hitchcock”, and continues: “A thriller meets society comedy. The levels change again and again. A lot happens in this fast-paced, entertaining film. In the course of the action, Michèle opens up and experiences liberation from her inner demons. [...] A great film! Full of abysmal moments, full of tension and humor. [...] Malicious, funny, politically incorrect, multifaceted, brilliantly played, elegantly and flawlessly staged - Paul Verhoeven is back in the center of cinema. Ten years after his last film 'Blackbook', the 78-year-old has made a new film - 'Elle' with an absolutely great Isabelle Huppert in the lead role, in one of the best appearances of her career. "

The film critics unanimously appreciate Isabelle Huppert's outstanding performance. Christopher Diekhaus writes in the internet film magazine artechock : “Amid all the ludicrous twists and turns, Isabelle Huppert has a fascinating, unfathomable aura. Although the idiosyncratic Michèle is by no means a classic figure of identification, her development remains interesting at all times thanks to the famous and fearless acting. With the exceptional French act in mind, it is hard to imagine that Elle would have worked so convincingly if the film - as originally planned - had been shot in English with an American leading actress. It's good that nobody in the USA has dared to try the uncomfortable material. "

Awards

Elle was also selected as an official French nominee for an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category but was not shortlisted.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for Elle . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Profile at mfa-film.de (accessed on January 8, 2017).
  3. ↑ epd-film , February 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ Twenty Vision Film Production. Accessed May 15, 2017.
  5. ^ Paul Verhoeven discusses Elle , accessed May 17, 2017
  6. ↑ Elle: Emanuelle Levy: Interview with Director Paul Verhoeven, accessed on May 17, 2017
  7. ↑ Interview with Paul Verhoeven in: MUBI, October 14, 2016, accessed on May 16, 2017.
  8. ↑ The Rules of the Game: Paul Verhoeven's Elle in: Cinemascope, accessed on May 17, 2017
  9. ↑ Elle at Rotten Tomatoes (English)Template: Rotten Tomatoes / Maintenance / "imported from" is missing
  10. ↑ Hannah Pielarczy: exceptional film "Elle" . Spiegel-online, February 15, 2017, accessed May 15, 2017
  11. ↑ Elle . Film service, accessed May 15, 2017
  12. ↑ Rüdiger Suchsland: Elle by Paul Verhoeven SWR 2 Kultur, February 15, 2017, accessed on May 15, 2017
  13. ↑ Elle in: artechock, accessed May 15, 2017
  14. ↑ 9 Foreign Language Films advance in Oscar Race at oscars.org, December 15, 2016 (accessed January 6, 2017).