By Travis Johnson
It’s been a long time between drinks for Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven. His last widely-distributed film, the WWII drama Black Book, was way back in 2006. Now the man who brought the beaver shot to mainstream cinema is back, directing French icon Isabelle Huppert in Elle, a – what else? psychosexual thriller.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Michèle (Huppert) seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game—a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.
If you want to gauge how staid modern cinema has become, remember there was a time when a guy like Verhoeven was given the keys to the kingdom and allowed to rampage about for a remarkably long time, skewering America with satires like Robocop, Starship Troopers, and Showgirls. Whether Elle hits the same delirious pitch is difficult to say at this point, but we’ll be there when it hits Australian cinemas on October 27.
