We open with a shot of a cat's stare as it watches her owner being raped, passively observing the events unfold, the screams are heard from the cat's detached position. Throughout this brazenly provocative film, director Paul Verhoeven establishes us as the cat - telling what at times seems to be a bizarre tale of the aftermath of a rape - we explore, without prejudice, the complex ways in which our protagonist Michèle deals with this experience.
Isabelle Huppert's depiction of Michèle - the head of a video games company - is magnificently nuanced, from mischievous pouts to cryptic hints of smiles, she plays with ambiguity with trademark elegance. Her performance is absolutely vital to the film's success. Given the character's occasionally strange approach to her situation, Michèle could have been an alienating presence. However, her businesslike reaction to her being raped is made to seem completely understandable; whether it is her in denial of what has happened or a pragmatic refusal to let it affect her, we are able to empathise with her completely.
Verhoeven has never been a director that concerns himself particularly with sexual politics, however Elle certainly breaks from this trend. The film has received both support as a "post-feminist" denouncement of the influence of the patriarchy and been decried as a fantastical male chauvinist propagation of violence against women. Michèle's bizarre relationship with her rapist could either be viewed as a stoic refusal to be victimised or a distasteful endorsement of the rapist's behaviour. The fact that the film has been so divisive evidences its impactfulness, notwithstanding its motive (perhaps it doesn't have one), the film has provoked thought.
Regardless of its sexual politics, Elle works as both the blackest of black (none more black) comedies and also a sort of revenge thriller. The comic moments centre (as everything does) on Michèle; coupled with David Birke's slick screenplay, Huppert delivers outrageous lines with a playfulness that epitomises the film's unusual approach to such serious subject matter. "The orgasmic convulsions are way too timid" she declares when one of her employees presents a prototype of a future game. In contrast to this darkly comedic streak, the film also functions as a thriller - brimming with ambiguity - the plots twists and turns create a suspenseful atmosphere of disquiet that underpins everything.
Elle is a gloriously slippery film that defies categorisation - as Verhoeven weaves together sequences of harsh violence, sharp comedy and odd poignancy - he creates a film (with a lot of help from Huppert) that whether you like it or not, gets under the skin, smartly subverting the established narrative of female submission.
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