Elle (film)

Elle

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Produced by Saïd Ben Saïd
Michel Merkt
Written by David Birke
Based on Oh... 
by Philippe Djian
Starring Isabelle Huppert
Music by Anne Dudley
Cinematography Stéphane Fontaine
Edited by Job ter Burg
Production
company
SBS Productions
Pallas Film
Distributed by SBS Distribution
Release dates
  • 21 May 2016 (2016-05-21) (Cannes)
  • 25 May 2016 (2016-05-25) (France)
Running time
 130 minutes
Country France
Germany
Language French

Elle (French: She or Her) is an upcoming French psychological thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by David Birke, based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian, and starring Isabelle Huppert. The film tells the story of a businesswoman, Michèle (Huppert), who is raped in her home by an unknown assailant and stalks him back. It is Verhoeven's first feature film in ten years after his 2006 film Black Book, and his first in French language. It has been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.[1][2]

Plot

Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a successful 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.

Cast

Production

Development

Director Paul Verhoeven.

In May 2014, it was announced that Paul Verhoeven would direct an adaptation of Philippe Djian's 2012 novel, Oh..., his first feature film since Black Book (2006).[3] The director felt it was an opportunity for him to do "something very different to anything I've done before. But this stepping into the unknown, I think it’s very important in the life of an artist. It puts you in an existential mode. As an artist you have to, as much as possible, step into the unknown and see what happens to you."[4] The project was unveiled at the Marché du Film during the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it was described as "pure Verhoeven, extremely erotic and perverted."[5] Verhoeven was looking for an actress who would be "prepared to take that on" and believed Nicole Kidman "could handle this role." He also considered Marion Cotillard, Diane Lane, Sharon Stone and Carice van Houten for the role of Michèle, a businesswoman who is raped in her home by an unknown assailant and refuses to let it alter her precisely ordered life.[6] The film was originally supposed to take place in Boston but, according to Verhoeven, it proved to be "too difficult" to shoot the film in the United States due to its violent content.[7] Verhoeven then decided to do it in French and used a significant time before production to learn the language, in order to effectively communicate with the predominantly French cast and crew.[8] In September 2014, French actress Isabelle Huppert signed on to star in the film as Michèle.[9] Huppert had read the book before being offered the part. She is a longtime fan of Verhoeven’s work whom she described as "one of the best directors in the world for me".[10]

Filming

Leading actress Isabelle Huppert.

Principal photography began on 10 January 2015 for a ten-week shoot.[11] Filming took place in and around Paris. A planned sequence in Paris' main police station was cancelled following the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January.[12] The film was also shot in a house for Huppert's character in Saint-Germain-en-Laye for five weeks.[13] Verhoeven's mise-en-scène for the film was influenced by three films: Federico Fellini's 8½, Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Every scene was choreographed and Verhoeven storyboarded the whole film himself.[8] He chose to shoot the film with two Arri Alexa cameras as "These days the amount of time a director is given to make a move has diminished by 40 to 50 percent. Working with two cameras solves part of that problem while giving you the opportunity to do things that you wouldn’t do before."[8]

When the film wrapped, Verhoeven described the shoot as "difficult"[14] but later admitted that "in retrospect, it was very pleasant and easy."[15] He dismissed rumors that Elle was an "erotic thriller" in the tradition of some his previous films, including Basic Instinct, "Those people who think that this is an erotic film will be disillusioned. They are in for a strange confrontation with a movie that is... not ordinary. I don’t think the story is erotic; it’s about rape. An erotic thriller would be a bit weird, right? I mean, it might be erotic for the person doing it, but I don’t think that rape in general is something you would call erotic."[8] On May 13, 2015, he told Variety he had "a strong feeling with this one that I was doing something that I’d never done before, which applied when I made RoboCop."[16] He also praised Huppert’s performance, saying that "She is an extremely gifted actress that gives you more than what’s on paper… even what’s in the book. She does experiments in her mind to get to places that she would probably avoid in reality. And she does that in an absolutely unique way."[16] He also said in an interview with Film Comment:

She’s one of the most brilliant actors I’ve ever met in my life. She’s so extremely special and is able to avoid any cliché in any situation, always finding a different way of doing things. She comes up with all kinds of extra details that you wouldn’t even dream of, that I would never come up with on my own. She’s not only a great actress but she is also especially imaginative and creative in her approach to the character. I didn’t have to tell her anything about Michèle because it was clear from the first shot that she knew exactly what her character would do and how she would behave in whatever circumstance. She is extremely audacious and she really had no problem with anything that was in the script, so I have an enormous respect for her.[8]

Release

The first poster for the film was released in May 2015 during the Cannes Film Festival where SBS Productions sold the film internationally.[16] On 16 January 2016, the first trailer and the final poster were released.[17] On March 11, 2016, French film magazine Le Film français announced that SBS Distribution moved up the release date from September 21 to May 25, 2016.[18] On 14 April 2016, it was announced that the film had been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the Cannes Film Festival.[19] On 27 April 2016, several images of the film were released.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "2016 Cannes Film Festival Announces Lineup". IndieWire. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Cannes 2016: Film Festival Unveils Official Selection Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (6 May 2014). "Wild Bunch unveils full Cannes 2014 slate". Screen International. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Chauvin, Jean-Sébastien; Delorme, Stéphane (October 2015). "L'ironie est un art perdu: entretien avec Paul Verhoeven". Cahiers du cinéma.
  5. ↑ Lindsay, Taylor (6 May 2014). "Coming to Cannes From Wild Bunch: 'Spring Breakers 2' and Gaspar Noe's Sex Celebration 'Love'". Indiewire. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Nicole Kidman in erotische thriller". De Telegraaf. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Clarac, Toma (30 April 2015). "PAUL VERHOEVEN, DE ROBOCOP À JÉSUS CHRIST". GQ. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Margaret, Barton-Fumo (12 January 2016). "Interview: Paul Verhoeven". Film Comment. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Jagernauth, Kevin (25 September 2014). "Paul Verhoeven, William Monahan, 'Frank' Director Lenny Abrahamson And More Line Up New Projects". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  10. ↑ Walsh, Katie (9 December 2014). "Interview: Isabelle Huppert Talks Her Favorite Films Of 2014, The State Of Cinema, Michael Haneke & More". Indiewire. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  11. ↑ Lermercier, Fabien (24 February 2015). "Verhoeven in the middle of shooting Elle". Cineuropa. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  12. ↑ van Dorp, Michael (6 February 2015). "Verhoeven schrapt scène vanwege Charlie Hebdo". Veronica Magazine. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "Isabelle Huppert, un nouveau rôle "fémininement" incorrect". Mairie de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (calameo.com). March 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  14. ↑ Bénédict, Sébastien (April 24, 2015). "PAUL VERHOEVEN : LA CHAIR ET LE SANG (DU CHRIST)". Chronic'art. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  15. ↑ Kohn, Eric (November 25, 2014). "How Paul Verhoeven Survived 'Showgirls' and Turned His Back on Hollywood". Indiewire. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 Hopewell, John (May 13, 2015). "Cannes: Paul Verhoeven Sees ‘Elle’ as Nuanced Thriller (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  17. ↑ Davis, Edward (January 16, 2016). "Watch: First International Trailer From Paul Verhoeven's Thriller 'Elle' Starring Isabelle Huppert". Indiewire. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  18. ↑ "SBS Distribution avance le prochain Paul Verhoeven". Le Film français. March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  19. ↑ Debruge, Peter; Keslassy, Elsa (April 14, 2016). "Cannes 2016: Film Festival Unveils Official Selection Lineup". Variety. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  20. ↑ Newman, Nick (April 27, 2016). "New Images from Cannes Titles By Paul Verhoeven, Bruno Dumont, Park Chan-wook, Cristian Mungiu & More". TheFilmStage.com. Retrieved April 27, 2016.

External links

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