Elle (French for 'she' / 'her') is a 2016 psychological thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven from a screenplay by David Birke, based on the 2012 novel Oh... by Philippe Djian.

It premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it received critical acclaim.

She carries on an affair with Robert, the husband of her friend and business partner Anna, and flirts with her married neighbor Patrick.

Michèle decides to visit her father after his parole application is rejected, only to find that he has hanged himself hours before she arrives.

The two of them walk a delicate line in which Patrick has to feel as though he is raping Michèle, even though she consents to the roleplay.

Michèle grows increasingly disillusioned with her life leading up to the launch party for her company's new video game.

As Patrick drives her home, Michèle professes that she is no longer in denial about their unhealthy relationship and claims she intends to call the police.

She takes her time walking in front of his parked car after getting out, and then makes a point of leaving her gate unlocked.

"[8] He also considered Charlize Theron, Julianne Moore, Sharon Stone, Marion Cotillard, Diane Lane, 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.

"[12] The film was originally supposed to take place in Boston or Chicago but, according to Verhoeven, it proved to be "too difficult" to shoot the film in the United States due to its violent and immoral content as "that would have meant getting more into the direction of Basic Instinct, but a lot of the things that are important in the movie would probably have been diminished.

[16] Huppert had expressed interest in a screen adaptation of the book before Verhoeven, whom she described as "one of the best directors in the world for me,"[17] joined the production and accepted the part immediately, "I had no doubt about the integrity to the role.

A planned sequence in Paris' main police station was cancelled following the Charlie Hebdo shooting on 7 January.

[15] He chose to shoot the film with two Red Dragon cameras,[22] as "These days the amount of time a director is given to make a movie has diminished by 40 to 50 percent.

"[32] Following the film's Cannes premiere, Sony announced its theatrical release in the United States on 11 November 2016.

[33] On 12 August 2016, it was announced Picturehouse had acquired distribution rights to release the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Clare Binns, director of programming and acquisition at Picturehouse, praised Verhoeven, whom she described as "a master filmmaker who has always made provocative and exciting work without compromise—Elle is no exception" and also said, "This gripping, multilayered thriller bowled me over in Cannes and I know it's going to be a big talking point.

[37] Elle received widespread critical acclaim, with particular praise for Huppert's performance and Verhoeven's direction.

The website's critical consensus says, "Elle finds director Paul Verhoeven operating at peak power—and benefiting from a typically outstanding performance from Isabelle Huppert in the central role.

"[38] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film received an average score of 89 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[40] Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter called it "the most empowering 'Rape Movie' ever made," and wrote, "Paul Verhoeven's film about a woman's complicated response to being raped will draw ire from feminists and others, but it's one of the bravest, most honest and inspiring examinations of the subject ever put onscreen.

"[42] Guy Lodge of Variety said, "Isabelle Huppert might be our best living actor, and Elle might be Paul Verhoeven's best film.

"[45] Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter called the film a "tastefully twisted mid-to-late-life crisis thriller that's both lasciviously dark and rebelliously light on its feet" and added that Verhoeven and Huppert "combine their talents to make a film that hardly skimps on the sex, violence and sadism, yet ultimately tells a story about how one woman uses them all to set herself free.

"[49] Xan Brooks of The Guardian found the film "utterly gripping and endlessly disturbing" and wrote, "Isabelle Huppert delivers a standout performance as a woman turning the tables on her attacker in the controversial director's electrifying and provocative comeback.

"[50] Lisa Nesselson of Screen Daily found that Huppert's "self-assured-and-aloof register is a perfect fit with Verhoeven's taste for far-fetched human behaviour presented as plausible," and described the film as "suspenseful and unsettling from first frame to last.

"[51] David Sexton of The Evening Standard labeled the film as "outrageous, funny and shocking, exhilarating and original.

"[53] Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "Elle is no exploration of a woman's life or psyche but a macho fantasy adorned with the trappings of liberation.

"[54] Bidisha, writing in The Guardian, rounded on the film's racist humour and for perpetuating misogynistic stereotypes about domestic abuse and rape fantasies: "In a vicious insult to all survivors of men's sexual violence, the filmmakers have recast the perpetrator and his victim as being in some kind of relationship or affair driven by her masochism, in which his abusiveness is simply a necessary fuel...

[57] When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a shortlist of nine pictures competing for the category on 15 December 2016 that did not include Elle, many media, including The Hollywood Reporter,[58] The New York Times,[59] Entertainment Weekly,[60] The Independent [61] and The Guardian,[62] slammed Elle's omission as a "snub."