There was much anticipation to see Paul Verhoeven in Cannes and, at 77, the Dutch filmmaker not disappointed with “Elle”, a controversial movie, funny, intelligent and extremely open, with Isabelle Huppert embroidering a complex role which can lead to conflicting reactions.
An easy character who plays the French actress, that of Michelle, a woman who is raped in her home, a point item that does not give way to the expected drama but a story that goes far beyond a “thriller”, a tragedy, a comedy, a “tale, a fantasy and fantasy is not necessarily something that happens”.
“it is something that is in your thoughts,” said Huppert, who stressed that “Elle” “should not be taken as a realistic story, is not a general statement about a woman who is raped and which accepts that violation. “
is about a woman in particular,” its history as an individual, “and in the film is very clear that Michelle is not someone who has had a normal life . She is the daughter of a murderer and character and reactions completely delirious at times, are the result of all that has happened
Based on a novel by Philippe Djian -. ” Oh … “- Verhoeven returns with” Elle “to the Cannes competition 24 years after he presented” basic Instinct “(” basic Instinct “) and makes it hard to close the projections of an issue that has been marked by veteran filmmakers.
Only Ken Loach, 80, than in age Verhoeven, who despite his years demonstrated today in Cannes that still has much to decide in film and with films like “Elle”, his first work in French and completely different from anything he has done so far.
The big Hollywood productions are long gone for Verhoeven, who years ago that does not direct films in the United States because it is interesting scripts.
“O are things I have done or not interest me much,” he said of the Americans scripts that you propose. in the history of Philippe Djian However, he found “something different” because “has new things.”
“It’s a thriller, there are tragic elements, there comic elements, there . a little of everything in the film is that what I miss, I find stories so interesting in the United States, “Verhoeven said, adding:” I make films because I like doing this kind of films, not to make money, that would be boring. “
and although initially thought roll” Elle “in English, when he learned that Isabelle Huppert was interested in the role and since the novel is French and developed in Paris, decided to change.
“I am very happy because Paris and France gave me this, that does not exist anywhere else,” he said referring to the actress, who in ” Elle “again demonstrates his talent to understand seemingly incomprehensible characters.
Huppert noted the irony and humor of the characters in the film, which was already present in the novel Djian, and “ambiguity and mystery” Verhoeven has entered history.
An ambiguity recognized by the director, to who his film with a more open-ended, leaving viewers who are they those who decide what is the film.
for the most difficult to perform in the film was to give a structure, avoid Americanize, to understand the contradictory behavior of the characters.
“We have had to listen to the novel, but not necessarily all. We respected the book, for good reason, because it is a great novel, “said Verhoeven.
In this regard, Djian stressed that history” is not about a woman who falls her rapist, “as some critics have highlighted, but on” someone who does not obey all the codes of normal society. “
a woman” trying to be free and that freedom the scary and uncomfortable to the reader or the viewer. We do not like women to be completely free and do what they want and what they think, “said the writer.
A movie that has nothing to do with science fiction” Total Recall “(” Total Recall “) or” Robocop “, examples of a genre in which, in the opinion of Verhoeven, has already been said and done.
” I think there to go back a bit to normal. All those superhérores not know if it’s the dream of viewers in the US, but I think we have lost all contact with normal people. “
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