Elle is a 2016 psychological thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven from a screenplay by David Birke, based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian. Djian's novel was published in 2012 and received the Prix Interallié. The film stars Isabelle Huppert as a businesswoman who is raped in her home by a masked assailant and decides not to report it due to her past experience with police.
Theatrical release poster
Leading actress Isabelle Huppert
Huppert and Verhoeven promoting the film at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
Isabelle Huppert's performance garnered critical acclaim and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also won her first Golden Globe award for her performance in the film.
Paul Verhoeven is a Dutch filmmaker. His films are known for their graphic violence and sexual content, combined with social satire. After receiving attention for the TV series Floris in his native Netherlands, Verhoeven's breakthrough film was the romantic drama Turkish Delight (1973), starring frequent collaborator Rutger Hauer. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and later received the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century at the Netherlands Film Festival. Verhoeven later directed successful Dutch films including the period drama Keetje Tippel (1975), the war film Soldier of Orange (1977), the teen drama Spetters (1980) and the psychological thriller The Fourth Man (1983).
Verhoeven in 2016
Verhoeven (center) in 1983
Presentation of Basic Instinct at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Left to right: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Michael Douglas, Martine Tours (Verhoeven's wife), Verhoeven, Sharon Stone and Mario Kassar.
Verhoeven at press conference at Berlinale 2017
