Elle

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: November 11, 2016

7.2	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 256 Ratings

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Benkoko11Feb 23, 2017

Elle has its strengths - Hubbert's fierce lead performance and occasional laugh out loud moments - but its unrealisic plot and strange transgressions are confusing at best and wildly offensive at worst.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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AxeTNov 14, 2016

Rating = 2 (Metacritic incompetence)
No wonder they couldn't get it made in English in Hollywood, it's a beyond belief stupid nonsensical obscene silly plotless incoherent indulgent scattered ramble directed by a washed up hack who had aRating = 2 (Metacritic incompetence)
No wonder they couldn't get it made in English in Hollywood, it's a beyond belief stupid nonsensical obscene silly plotless incoherent indulgent scattered ramble directed by a washed up hack who had a couple hits 20-30 years ago and a flash of brilliance in his short lived shock jock cinema and has now proven he never made it out of adolescence with his perverted delight at attempting to disturb with his usual cartoon vision of the world. He tipped his hand beyond recovery (in a sane industry) with the so laughably horrendous "Showgirls" that it became one of those rare movies so terrible it gets notoriety and watched anyway as 'so bad it's good'. This junk blatantly rips off "Jagged Edge" (not just the mask but also the score, cam, cuts), which it would be an understatement to say is about 100 times better than this puke. You've got to be a fool to tolerate this hoax or just a pseudo euro trash film snob who is either dishonest with themselves or has no clue what a good movie is.… Expand

5 of 10 users found this helpful55

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InsomniackerDec 24, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The high ratings from critics is mystifying. This movie's main characters, supposedly bright, accomplished people, act stupidly again and again for the entire length of the story--offering ridiculous justifications for their stupidity. How stupidly? A rape victim doesn't go to the hospital or police to collect her attacker's DNA. In fact, she submits to his attacks twice more! Tough to sit through this one.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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underinDec 10, 2016

No way is it a great movie. There's no effort spent on character development; too many useless subplots (why is the thing about the father or for that matter the son there anyways!!!); and too much hype. If you want movies of the genre pleaseNo way is it a great movie. There's no effort spent on character development; too many useless subplots (why is the thing about the father or for that matter the son there anyways!!!); and too much hype. If you want movies of the genre please go see Gone Girl; dont waste your time on this crap.… Expand

4 of 9 users found this helpful45

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RyanNanniDec 23, 2016

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Look, I'm not even going to engage the question of whether this movie is essentially misogynist or not. I'm going to take the film at face value. Because I actually enjoyed the first third of the movie immensely. Isabelle Huppert's performance is fantastic and compelling, the concept of a woman dealing with a violent rape by sitting back and methodically preparing to take her revenge, and the way she treads through the male world she lives in are all compelling ideas!

But the story is a train wreck! And not in an enjoyable way!

The first engine of the movie is Elle's mission to track down her rapist. Very compelling.

Then we get this backstory that her father was a mass murderer. Also interesting enough to keep me watching. But not tied in to the rest of the movie in anyway whatsoever. It almost seems random.

And then some very boring subplots about her whiney son and his obnoxious girlfriend, and some casual relationships with the other people in her life. No tension driving those subplots.

And then! *spoiler alert*

She discovers her rapist, it's the neighbor she has a crush on! Wow, interesting! The person she's been trying to track down this whole time! But then, she seemingly doesn't care at all! She lets him go, gets into a random car rack which he saves her from for some bizarre reason, she continues to hang out with him, he rapes her again but it's bizarre because the movie plays this like it's a bad thing but she also wants it maybe? Not clear. And then he tries to rape her again in the end which is totally undramatic at this point because she's totally given up on trying to stop him from raping her.

The last third of the movie lacks tension or any compelling conflict at all. This could've been a good movie. :(… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

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leobrodskyJan 10, 2017

This is the wonderful movie for brainless liberals. This is the real degradation of French movie making.
I am not surprised the Hollywood chose this movie as the best foreign film. What can we expect from Streep and Co? I spent $25 for twoThis is the wonderful movie for brainless liberals. This is the real degradation of French movie making.
I am not surprised the Hollywood chose this movie as the best foreign film. What can we expect from Streep and Co? I spent $25 for two tickets and will regret for the rest of my life that I didn't buy instead the bottle of Russian vodka.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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2morovianFeb 13, 2018

From one viewpoint, this is a film about such a highly dysfunctional group of individuals (to the point of being truly warped), that you wonder how they can get through life and even hold a job at all. As a viewer, if you can accept thisFrom one viewpoint, this is a film about such a highly dysfunctional group of individuals (to the point of being truly warped), that you wonder how they can get through life and even hold a job at all. As a viewer, if you can accept this incredulity as the baseline of the film, then you can get more involved with the twisted fantasy and the mystery-unraveling-solving part that is built around it. It doesn't pan out, in the end, and just adds to repository of disbelief we already have about the French and their very bizarre and unique ways of living life, as it apparently straddles the line between actual truth and fiction.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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BroyaxMay 15, 2017

Ce vieux pervers de Verhoeven a la vue qui baisse : le voilà qui s'est découvert une nouvelle passion pour les cougars ! la Huppert et sa copine là, environ une centaine d'heures de vol à elles deux au compteur (à moins que ce ne soit desCe vieux pervers de Verhoeven a la vue qui baisse : le voilà qui s'est découvert une nouvelle passion pour les cougars ! la Huppert et sa copine là, environ une centaine d'heures de vol à elles deux au compteur (à moins que ce ne soit des années ?) et pourtant, toujours en piste les desperate housewives... surtout pour Isabelle qui donne beaucoup de sa personne dans son inédite relation sado-maso à l'insu de son ignorance.

Le Hollandais volant sait encore en quelques scènes ici et là sans fard et sans fioritures nous estomaquer par la brutalité et l'agression (sexuelles bien sûr) ; il sait en extraire le côté scabreux le long d'une histoire qui s'y prête forcément. Cette même "histoire" qui multiplie les situations et les personnages si aberrants que cela confine à une sorte de surréalisme.

Il détaille le passé et la psychologie d'Isabelle (qui s'en tire bien) ainsi que son environnement tourmenté (le père psychopathe, le fiston complètement con, sans oublier évidemment ses ex et ses coucheries à droite et à gauche) et c'est pas facile tous les jours ! c'en serait presque risible si ce n'était aussi absurde... et abrutissant.

Non, on est très loin de Basic Instinct sans parler de La chair et le sang, ni même de l'étonnant Black book... Papy a perdu la main sur ce coup. Premièrement parce qu'on y croit pas, on y croit plus au bout d'une petite heure : trop aberrant et invraisemblable ; secondement parce que le film est une limace neurasthénique sous neuroleptiques : si on avait sabré au bas mot 40 minutes inutiles, le film aurait pu peut-être s'en sortir. Mais avec des "si"...

La fin retombe à peu près sur ses pieds, comme une dernière tentative -quoique convenue- pour extirper le film de la mélasse dans laquelle il s'est enfoncé jusqu'à la garde. Mais il est déjà trop tard.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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SMQRSKEETMar 25, 2017

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This film was incredibly boring. The story did not start. 1 hour and a bit into the film could have been the opening scene so little had actually happened. It is shocking the amount of praise this film is getting in comparison to other movies that have been slayed. The movie is more or less about a woman getting raped then staring out her balcony for 2 hours. Save yourself the misery. Let me finalise by saying I was well up for this film and recommended it to my friends. My recommendation premiums have taken a hit as a result of this film. Incredibly overrated.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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