ELLE

"For a filmmaker who so often leaves little to the imagination, Verhoeven has not only left the door open to interpretation, he's turned ambiguity into a weapon all its own." – Reverse Shot

When the CEO of a company specialising in violent video games is brutally raped during a home invasion, she goes about her daily business as if nothing has happened. Deciding not to report the crime, she instead embarks on a cat-and-mouse pursuit of her assailant – a dangerous game that will feed her own sadomasochistic desires.

The latest film from Dutch provocateur Paul Verhoeven (Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers), Elle is a perverse, psychologically complex and sometimes surprisingly funny film that won huge critical acclaim at this year's Cannes Film Festival – not least for Isabelle Huppert's (Things to Come, also screening in this year's program) mesmerising performance as the film's hard-as-nails protagonist.

"Perhaps the smartest, most honest and empowering film about rape I've ever seen … it explodes conventions, challenges assumptions and gets right in your face about the subject in a way that very few films have ever done." – The Hollywood Reporter