Elle

Damn fellas, Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers) has still got it.  This creepy sexy thriller about a woman (Isabelle Huppert (Heaven’s Gate)) who launches a solo investigation to find the identity of the man who raped her one afternoon is prime Verhoeven material (and even has some stink of Joe Eszterhas (Jade, Showgirls) but he wasn’t involved at all).

Huppert is so strong in the lead as a confident successful owner of a video game company.  She refuses to let this agonizing incident ruin her life by attempting to carry on as normal.  But her attacker keeps sending her dirty messages, masturbating in her house while she’s not there and even goes for another rape.  She has to figure out who this monster is and stop him.

What adds to the strange atmosphere of the film is that we find out our protagonist’s father was a murderer who killed many children in their neighborhood.  He’s been locked away in prison for a long time but the past is frequently dragged back to the surface with people giving Huppert dirty looks and throwing garbage on her.  So she doesn’t know if the rape is part of this national hatred towards her family or if it’s completely unrelated.

There’s a lot of weird ass psychological shit to dig into as per usual with Verhoeven.  And of course he knows how to build suspense and create nervous knee tension.  You’re still the fuckin’ man Paul.  Keep on keepin’ on.