It would seem 2 hours... And it seems that something is happening, there is some development, even some own investigation, but this is not for long, soon we begin to observe only all sorts of interpersonal relationships, the interaction of the heroes among themselves, and here it is as if between the matter of reminder and what happened, although we still find out who he is (by the way, to track down is too loud a word). Rather, the criminal wanted to consolidate his success, to feel power over the situation, remaining unpunished. Actually, and the game, which is referred to in the description, I also did not see in the view, which is usually implied. The heroine is a victim, and even with a childhood trauma, but herself with a sin. We are told not only the details of her life, but also her character. Hard, unprincipled, straightforward. Of course, for work or in certain situations, such qualities are still important, but in your personal life with them you rather appear as a soulless, inhuman individual. How does it feel? Contradictory, because she does not demonstrate humanity, human respect and human compassion. What is 140+ minutes of time? Scandals, intrigues, investigations. Like a criminal chronicle or a Malakhov program. Characters are denounced one by one. This is more drama than a thriller. And then there's crime. Ah, this treacherous timing, could have wedged the detective genre.
The set of events in the new film by P. Verhoeven sets in the darkest mood - 4 rapes, 3 deaths, the mass murder of neighbors in the childhood memory of the main character, a dark family secret, four families will break up, one will not take place, three will be forced to change their place of residence. It's a nightmare. But at the same time, the film will not turn into a tragedy. At the Cannes Film Festival, some critics even called the film a "rape comedy." The director rightly considered this definition idiotic, but he did not mention the genre. He did not specify in words, but the first shot gave the key to stylistics. The first thing the audience will see in the film is a cat’s face in the whole screen. Behind the scenes - the sounds of struggle: loud bangs, screams, the ringing of broken dishes. This is in her own, very fashionable house, the hostess (owner of a large video game company) Michelle raped by an unknown in a black suit with a balaclava on her head. Pain, blood and broken cups on the cat’s face are reflected only by a cold curiosity “what did people think of?” And the Dutch director, who shot the picture for the first time in France, looks at his characters with the same cat’s look, in which there is no place for compassion, tragedy or humor. A healthy, cynical cold curiosity. Love, attachments, betrayals, affairs, obsessions - all that the heroes' soul tears apart - from the outside looks funny, but no more.
Verhoeven created a real concerto for piano and orchestra, where each instrument has its own part. And the main thing, of course, at the piano. Michelle - in this role Isabel Huppert - moderately cynical, moderately suffering, moderately curious. She, like that cat, knows everything that the secular masks of her environment hide. Moreover, it does not allow these masks to stick tightly to the faces. Call all things by their proper names, do not let any of the loved ones bother themselves and Michelle herself. Few people like it, but everyone, as it turns out, needs it. You can be offended to death, forever break all relationships, but only in order to return to the one who knows everything, sees everything and soberly and coldly assess. After what happened to Michelle at the age of 10, this type of behavior is the only way to save yourself. Michelle is the daughter of a murderer, and not just a murderer, but the famous “Butcher of Nantes” in France, when one evening a modest citizen, taking an axe in his hands, slaughtered all his neighbors, as well as their cats and dogs, for some reason sparing a hamster. And then, covered in blood, he returned home to his daughter, with whom he began to burn furniture, clothes and carpets. Police and journalists are coming. A photo of a 10-year-old girl in panties and a t-shirt smeared with soot will appear on the front pages of all French newspapers. After such a childless glory, you will be a cynic. After telling this heartbreaking story at a Christmas dinner, Michelle, in front of the stunned guests, suddenly slaps on the knee of a neighbor on the table and cheerfully says: “Not bad, huh?”. One must live, one must forget, it is impossible to forget, the romantic view of things is canceled for the rest of life, and cynicism must be healthy.
Michelle's mother experienced the same episode. But she has her own type of survival. The melody is interwoven with a violin theme - in some places sad, sometimes annoying, sometimes terribly fake. 80-year-old old woman, inflated with botex and painted a black and white mask instead of a face, tirelessly arranges his new personal life - with a frank gigolo and round fool Ralph.
Contrabass is Michelle's son. The young man works as a senior assistant to a junior manager in a fast and cheap food chain with symbolic earnings. Plans are big. The guy is at the mercy of a young girl, whose finger is not in her mouth, will tell you how to cut off. The girl is pregnant. Childbirth. The first show of the baby - the boy who will be called Lucien - extremely, obscenely dark. "" Not even DNA testing is necessary. "" Michelle, a cynical and truth-loving woman, was the first to say. But the double bass overtones does not know - straightforward to stupidity. The child is his and only his, although suspiciously similar to a mutual friend.
Michelle's neighbors are a married couple living across the street. A duet for trumpet and flute. The wife is a gentle piccolo flute - a melody of boundless faith - Christmas lanterns and figurines of saints on the lawn, an appeal to the highly atheistic community to start dinner with prayer, a TV set to broadcast the service from the main cathedral. Husband's a trumpet, more like a trombone. Metrosexual, caring husband, attentive neighbor.
His parties have ex-husband Michelle (cello) with his spiritual union with a graduate student. The cello kicks steeply when it turns out that the spiritual sister is a graduate student, confused him with another writer of the same name.
Two violas are Michelle's closest friend and her husband. Their craving for the main instrument is sensual, erotic, with jealousy and to Michelle, and to each other.
There is a strike group - young employees - geniuses of IT-technologies, creating computer games in the company "old woman" Michelle. They try to silence an outdated piano, they blackmail it, they flirt with it. And in the final will create a luxurious rhythmic background for piano solo.
"She" is a true delight for the movie gourmet. Having carefully painted the entire score, Verhoeven creates the finest duets, trios, quartets. And when all the characters gather in the scene, the melody turns out to be such incredible beauty and genuine symphonic complexity that the heart of the moviegoer is set in a happy trembling. At this concert, you will not laugh, although there are frank musical humores, you will not cry here, although the theme of death regularly becomes the main one in the score. The whimsical twists of the melody, in which the voices of all instruments organically merge, first of all resemble life in all its manifestations, where from the tragic to the ridiculous - one step.
As for the cat, it will disappear from view of the camera somewhere in the middle when the masks are dropped. The cat will leave the action, but his view - principled and curious - will remain until the film's finale. But so disappeared and the most famous cat of world literature - Cheshire, when the cat long gone, and his smile hung in the air.
A film about masochism and guilt, which the characters ignore and diligently live their "decent" lives.
There is an interesting definition, introduced by the American anthropologist Ruth Benedict, “Western culture is a culture of guilt, Eastern culture is a culture of shame”, the concept of understanding sin and its consequences.
The feeling of guilt in Western culture eats a person from within, for which he ostracizes himself, waits and seeks punishment through which he can receive redemption. Eastern culture is based on a sense of shame, the concept of honor, the shame of which leads to the ostracism of society. The moral choice of a person is dictated by the fear of condemnation by society, loss of dignity.
Do the characters in the film avoid shame in front of each other or drown out their guilt with self-flagellation? Paul Verhoeven's drama is a sado-masochistic erotic thriller with a detective storyline. Difficult? Wrong word. Is this complexity worth it? Good question.
The main character in the person of Isabelle Huppert bears the cross of guilt of her father, a psychopath who shot the sleeping quarter. Throughout her life, she faces severe bullying, as she was nearby at the time of the murder and subsequently helped burn household utensils in the backyard. That's what the press finds her doing. A naked girl smeared with ash will be called Cinderella. An interesting plot hook, until the very finale, Paul Verhoeven does not give an open answer to the question of what participation the daughter took in the mass shooting, whether the conviction is fair and whether there is blood on her hands. Nevertheless, Michelle (the name of the heroine Huppert) has a successful career, trustingly communicates with her husband after a divorce, and participates in the life of an unlucky adult son. Michelle has a best friend, a lover (husband of the same friend), friendly neighbors and a staff of subordinates, among which there are both her fans and haters.
However, one day someone brutally breaks into her empty rich house and rapes in front of the cat.
Introductory credits pop up on a black screen accompanied by wrestling sounds and female moans. The film begins with a rape scene, skipping the preamble, the camera snatches a bloody Michelle lying on the floor, who a minute later rises and sweeps the broken dishes and underwear with physiological secretions of the rapist into the scoop. Michelle does not report to the police, but that evening she takes a bath and has dinner with her son, listening to his infantile complaints.
The whole film is a complex and unhealthy relationship between Michelle and her entourage. The social glue that binds the characters is a sense of guilt about oneself and a sense of shame about others. Heroes are broken and traumatized, they receive the desired punishment, forgiveness or sympathy by painful intimacy with each other. Michelle manipulates her husband and son, secretly sleeps with her friend's husband, harasses subordinates and finds satisfaction in rape. She punishes herself and is drawn into a game with the rapist, not rushing to hand him over to the authorities. Son Michelle ignores the birth of a black child from his white girlfriend and listens to her endless reproaches, punishing himself for indecision and weakness. The rapist (I will not reveal the cards) leads a double life, and shows empathy and decency to new episodes of mania. The heroine’s elderly mother hides from reality, having fun with a young lover. The ex-husband Michelle broke up with after the beating finds solace in the arms of a young graduate student. And the only subordinate, loyal to Michelle, secretly edits the abuse video with the participation of the boss.
The escapism of the characters manifests itself in different ways, but each of them lives with their eyes closed. Only the heroine Michelle has no illusions about herself and brings out all those who do not want to discover or notice the bitter truth. “She’s not generous or kind, just honest with herself and others, even if it’s cruel.”
The film is not boring, asks a lot of questions and does not always give answers, the characters are ambiguous. The aftertaste is also mixed.
Erotic (you can probably call it that) psychological thriller from Paul Verhoeven (he has everything somehow erotic?) with Isabelle Huppert (hot grandmother).
Hupper (daughter of a rich and crazy mother and father of a maniac murderer serving a life sentence) is unhappy in family life and pulling family skeletons behind her, suddenly subjected to brutal rape. Then begins some mixture of social satire (I thought so), detective thriller and psychological sado-maso drama. There must be a feminist theme in all of this. Although it seemed to me (again) that Verhoeven just shows the weakness and vulnerability of the male sex. Being formally aggressors, almost all characters in the end look like victims, and women are predators, dragging into their networks of psychological control and violence.
Very interesting story and an open look at gender relations.
Golden Globe 2017 for Best Actress and Best Foreign Language Film.
Verhoeven kind of shot for us a hybrid of author's cinema and crime thriller. And in the end, it didn't work. A thriller needs intrigue, and it doesn't. For author's cinema, you need an annoying opinion of the author. He's not. But there are clichés of author’s cinema – all these unrecognized writers, endlessly writing a book, mistresses of friends of ex-husbands, etc. The characters are good. There is no division into protagonists and antagonists. Everyone is disgusting in some way. And this is rather a positive component. (We’re not going to play Hamlet for the negative characters.) But what exactly is the message of the film? All attempts by critics to guess it and to deduce some profound ideas are fruitless. No message. If the film is not entertaining, there is no film. In addition, the atmosphere is very spoiled by numerous holes in the scenario. Spoilers next. The heroine, of course, asserts herself and her microcosm in the end. Along with the other characters. But if she grew up in the circumstances that befell her, how did the others grow up? They didn't go through anything. Growing up and growing up, the final demands. Infantil became a man, stealing a bottle of wine against the will of the waiter; the lover’s wife grew out of thin air. So be it. Plus a bunch of ridiculous details that ruin any impression when viewed. The heroine was hit in the face and she walks with a fingal for several days. Then she was hit several times harder in the face and... there are no marks. She must have adapted. In the room with the newborn rubbed a crowd of people in street clothes. Well, the sanitary system in this France, at the level of Somalia. The heroine says she gave birth for three hours. And at least in Wikipedia to look at the time of writing the script - why, what's wrong with hacking. But I still believe in Verhoeven. He can film.
It seemed to me that in this film, which began as a good detective, all people’s stories are united by one idea – denial of the negative reality that is happening to them and attempts to avoid encounters with this reality, sometimes comical, grotesque and simply dangerous. Each hero of this drama hides in his imaginary and comfortable world instead of accepting all the pain from the events that happen to him. So the main character, having survived the rape, pretends that nothing terrible happened to her, not only trying to whitewash herself and others in this, but also imagining that she is enjoying a possible future of violence against her. All her surroundings act in this way - each in its own way. At the same time, you experience slight discomfort from the seriousness of the problems affected by the main characters and such a frivolous attitude to them. The film itself is flawlessly shot, each scene is verified, it is not at all boring to watch, only disappointing that the attempt to combine a detective story with a philosophical essay was as dubious as an attempt to combine pain and pleasure for the main character.
7 out of 10
Distributors are served as a thriller by Paul Verhoeven, the author of "Basic Instinct"; and in our country, the trailer was mounted so that the gullible viewer decided that, yes, a thriller, and even can be erotic. But no, "She" has in common with one of my favorite films of the nineties - only that they were both directed by Verhoeven with good actresses in the title role. And if Stone came out after that in great actresses, then for Hupper, a hundred years already as brilliant, this is a kind of frame that completes her portrait in the gallery of greats. The Dutch provocateur for the next film chose material that today’s Hollywood is not able to swallow; this story about the rape of a successful businesswoman and the consequences of this event for a small circle of people close to her wrapped up after reading and Kidman, Moore, and the same Stone. Therefore, in search of a heroine who would pull such a scenario, Verhoeven went to Europe. You didn't. Isabelle Huppert plays subtle, filigree, making believable the actions of the character, which could cast doubt on the performance of the actress more straightforward. But what is it about this scenario that made the American Dream Factory look embarrassed? I think that "Elle" tries to distance itself as much as possible from most of the patterns of paintings on this subject. This is not a rape and revenge story. Of course, there is a place for both the first and the second, but the emphasis is largely shifted. The fact of rape, of course, is undoubted; but here is the heroine's taste of such revenge. . . Secondly, this is not a familiar story about how the world of the heroine, broken into pieces by a terrible event, gradually sticks together again. Michelle’s life has long resembled a pile of multicolored fragments, and here she again takes a scoop and a broom in her hands with the usual gesture. Third, the emotional tone of the story is not what one would expect. And the main trope here I would call irony (no, the taste of the director does not change, and ironically not over the traumatic incident). Fourth, the focus of the film is not only on the central event. It's deliberately out of focus. Pushing off such an unexpected springboard, the director managed to jump very high and fix on film, surprisingly clearly, the panorama of modern us mores, tastes and habits. Fifthly... No, perhaps, it is worth stopping here and offering those interested to watch, perhaps, one of the best, if not the best film of Paul Verhoeven.
This film by Paul Verhoeven seems deliberately deceptive, causing a simplified interpretation, whether it is psychologically-Freudian - the Dutchman laughed at fans of such an analysis in the Hollywood film ' Basic Instinct'. Of course, in the case of 'Nei' you can try to get to ' primitive archetypes' but I want to present another version of the explanation of the meaning of this difficult picture, and causing the brain.
The main character is the creator of video games of a bloody and sexual nature, to some extent appears as a demiurge, manipulating not only lovers of such entertainment, but also her close friends, ex-husband, as well as a short-sighted son who is going to start a family with an angry friend. Rape, of course, insults and humiliates her, but Michelle accepts these conditions of a strange game, where she became the object of another ruler who imagines himself to be God (or his right hand), but in fact is a real Devil (the cellar into which Michelle goes with his rapist, where the red fire burns, is perceived as a small personal Hell), although later loses its halo.
I remember one of the first works of actress Isabelle Huppert was the role of a teenage girl in the loose and immoral picture of Bertrand Blier & #39; Waltzing & #39; where she allowed herself to be deprived of virginity by two scum-slobbers, as if helping them to have fun, relieve tension. In the case of the rapist, Michelle wants to help a suffering person who is not satisfied in his sexual life and demands something spicy, but only with personal consent and under supervision. Everyone has their own cockroaches, and she understands this, trying to control people’s desires as much as possible. But the power of this disturber of order goes beyond the limit, and we have to give him a place, take him out of the virtual reality in which he is immersed, and with him the entire European bourgeois society.
Thus, she abandons her role as the creator of virtual reality and kicks out her friend, talking about frequent infidelities with her husband. A previously spineless son, unaware of the dark skin color of a newborn baby, takes up arms to protect his mother. And Michelle herself, who for many years avoided her serial killer father, goes into contact with him, accepting her past.
Thus, the author of scandalous, shocking, sarcastic stories, turns out to be an underlying moralist. However, like Alfred Hitchcock, whose author’s black humor, passion for pranks was absorbed and developed by Paul Verhoeven. It is also worth noting that the film would have lost a lot without the wonderful actress Isabelle Huppert in a convincing presentation on the screen of such a strong woman, which is all in vain. She definitely deserved the award 'Oscar' however, the award went to a faded star in 'La La Lande' Emma Stone.
A petition for the early release of her father, a former brutal mass murderer, is about to be considered. A mother spends her daughter's money on a young lover and on rejuvenation operations. My best friend's husband had an eye on Michelle. In addition, a secret stalker associated with the rape story is announced.
We all know the difficult situations we get into one way or another. Someone goes into a binge, someone falls into depression, and Michelle just does not let these situations through. The day after the rape, she quietly manages workflows at a large video game development company, goes to a restaurant, visits her mother. The reason for her nerves of steel is the infamous event for the whole of France, which occurred in the 70s.
Paul Verhoeven, known in the past as the director of Basic Instinct, returns to his roots using the experience gained in the years after the film was released. Of course, the results he achieved were stunning – Isabelle Huppert is as good in her role as possible among actresses of her age. She completely absorbs attention, attracts attention with her unusual cinema image - in general, creates a real game (for this film she was awarded Cesar and the Golden Globe in 2017 as the best actress).
The story was a little different. Of course, the film is very interesting, but it keeps it in light tension thanks to Hupper. The rape story is not so shocking, once again confirming that the cause of this scourge is another psychological problems, which in general have been known since time immemorial.
To the level of passion in “Basic Instinct” is very far away, but I would not compare these two films – they have different schools of production (American and French), one is dominated by expression, effectivity, in the other – the style is smooth, not sharp, a little everyday (everyday). On the other hand, many viewers thought that it resembled “The Pianist”, although I did not think so despite the fact that Hupper played in both films.
The film can be safely put on the shelf, if you like bright acting and French film style.
8 out of 10
The key scene of the film is rape. It is shown to us as soon as the film begins. And here's my first complaint. Honestly, I like to watch films with the plot “victim is the abuser”, but I believe that in such films everything should be filmed qualitatively, naturally, so that the viewer does not have the slightest doubt about the realism of what is happening on the screen. These films include I Spit on Your Graves, Irreversibility, The Last House on the Left. But the rape in the movie “Elle” does not stand up to any criticism: the rapist some clumsy seal shot quickly, and the victim is not a victim at all, but some masochist or just a lover of hardcore “tougher”. Then more. Instead of famously twisting the topic with an attempt to calculate the rapist, the viewer is drowned in the so-called “household” – secondary events, behind which the thread of the central plot is lost and it becomes completely irrelevant who is there for whom and why he splashed. I figured out the rapist right away, but I can swear I'm not Sherlock. So, if you are not completely profane without intuition, there will be no intrigue in this.
The film is called “She,” and actress Isabelle Huppert played her beautifully. At 63 (at the time of filming), she still looked sexy and wanted (which is fantastic and probably the best compliment a woman can hear). But her amazing acting game is lost against the background of a nondescript boring plot, applicable only in long series, and then you can get a “tomato to the screen” from the viewer.
Of course, you can get into psychoanalysis and begin to think: what motivates the main character? why she behaves this way and not otherwise?.. probably the root of the problem in her childhood (after all, shrinks always blame childhood), and here is how the story about her father – a serial killer and a psychopath... therefore the main character is loyal to the maniac? Larchik then just opened ... what a banal and stereotyped thinking: if the father is crazy, then the daughter is necessarily with deviations. Yeah, sure. And healthy people like crazy people are not born. I do not know about the satire on the bourgeoisie... I assume that there are enough people with sexual deviations in any class, in any stratum of society (although no one has conducted such studies and no one has conducted statistics).
I want to end with the phrase of the main character: it’s bad, it’s like a disease to shoot a movie like this, which intrigues, draws in the beginning, but disappoints in the middle and at the end ... which dissolves the viewer’s attention in insignificant events, because they are often not interesting to watch. Try your best, gentlemen of France.
P.S.: It was only because of Hupper that the film was neutral, not negative. So, the actress can pull out the whole movie.
“I want to say that I’m familiar with the traumas”—our psychotherapist Paul Verkhoven.
The film "She" is a story about psychological trauma and the consequences of ignoring them.
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, known to audiences in many roles (from erotic drama to science fiction), in his next film tells us about the importance of self-discovery and the need to compromise with people so much different from ourselves.
The main character Michelle (actress - Isabelle Huppert) - mired in the Bohemian routine head of the company for the development of computer games. Her friends are the husbands of her friends and at the same time her lovers. Her son is an unsettled young man, completely subject to the will of his girlfriend. Michelle's life is a suppression. Suppression of old grievances - on parents, on former men. Loneliness and inner emptiness against the background of an expensive house is a metaphor for the director - external beauty with internal devastation. All that keeps the main character on life’s “floating” is interesting work and potential intrigues with the infidel husbands of their girlfriends.
Absence of emotional intimacy, inability to combine the social roles of a leader, friend and daughter, as a result - loss of mutual understanding and contact with loved ones. What could change in her life? Wrinkles have already made themselves felt, the only strong attachment is a domestic cat.
No, that won't work. Paul Verhoeven disagrees - he never agrees at all. He is used to testing established stereotypes. You give him $100,000 for action, and he shoots satire (“Star Troopers”), allocates $40,000,000 for erotic drama, and you get a portion of bullying (“Shogels”). The Dutchman remains true to himself, and therefore to the Correction - to be!
Since the heroine refuses to reflect and try to break the “Gordian knot” of his confusion consisting of sex, duplicity, computer games and a cat, Paul Verhoeven takes risks. So what's next?
Do you think she's trying to defend her dignity? Or go to the police? Nope. She's going to work. The invisible wall between the heroine and the reality - the feelings of other people - is so strong that the usual routine gives her hope of perceiving violence against herself as a car breakdown.
Refusal to investigate their problems and find out the identity of the criminal are two sides of the same coin. The persistence with which the heroine Hupper ignores her own problems turns into an unnatural craving for her abuser. Without realizing it, Michelle only meets the same traumatized person as she. Their relationship is a relationship of two very similar people. He - heals himself by violence against others, she - is content to destroy the relationships of others and suppress the desires of others.
Two very sick people quench their thirst for blood, not noticing the obvious way out. The solution to their problems is all around them. He has a faithful, beautiful and loving wife who hardly knows about the dark side of her husband, she has a son who really needs the support and kindness of his mother at the difficult stage of the formation of a man.
The main characters are trapped in modern postmodernism. Do they have a problem? Profession, environment and other titles of average Europeans demotivate heroes to engage in introspection. Their vices blossom at night and in the bedrooms - while no one sees. Exposure is their biggest fear. Pretty-looking, disfigured inside.
Oddly enough, Verhoeven continues to believe in the possibility of correction (as in “Schogels”). The paralysis of the will is not about the Dutchman. The director breaks his characters, forces them through pain and loss, finally come to their senses and try to save themselves. Not everyone stands this test. Failure after failure, stress is replaced by stress, and now the litmus test of the external beauty of the life of the heroine does not withstand the split of consciousness.
Change becomes inevitable, otherwise tragedies in the life of the main character would happen again and again. Having lost one of her relatives, the heroine understands that the next one is in line.
Gradually, the Dutchman brings us to the topic of religiosity. The film deals several times with the question of belief in God as a way to overcome existential problems. Verhoeven himself – the author of the book “Jesus of Nazareth”, already shoots the following picture – “The Holy Maiden”, which will tell us about the life of nun Benedetta Carlini in the XVII century.
After leaving Hollywood in 2000, Verhoeven finally returns to his European origins and plunges headlong into intimate psychology. In the film “She” you can find thematic references to Paul’s previous cult films – alienation from society is characteristic of the hero of “Robocop”, sexual perversions and emotional coldness – on this topic Verhoeven shot “Shougels”. But in America, Verhoeven was never given full freedom. Return to Europe – and Paul goes to his fullest.
Nominations for “Oscar” (“Best Actress”), “Goya”, “Cesar”, two “Golden Globes”, “Saturn” – all this collection deservedly collects “She”.
8 out of 10!
I found out about this movie and didn’t expect it to make such an impression on me. If you are interested in psychology, like to analyze people for the subject of “normality” & #39; and to prepprovrovorie motives of their actions, this is the place for you!
And as you recover from the opening scene, I will tell you that almost every subsequent episode or dialogue raises the question: what kind of thrashing happens in the life of Michelle and her surroundings and where this will lead them all?
Exactly half (if not more) of the picture is made by Isabel Huppert, whose heroine simply conquers with her slightly psychopathic and detached endurance. A woman who can put any situation in the right position for her. I think I've fallen in love a little bit.
The film is very exciting, lively, ambiguous, sparkling, a little deafening and has the signature aroma of French cinema.
I hope you enjoy it.
The film reminds in many ways ' Black Book' of the same director, although completely different. Paul Verhoeven continues in his unique manner to dissect the dark corners of the human soul and display skeletons in closets. The film is kind of like a thriller, but this is a thriller, where the darkest thing is not what happens on the screen, but what is unsaid and is happening in human heads & #39; behind the scenes & #39;. At the same time, the thriller is not psychological - otherwise it would not be Paul Verhoeven; the dark side of the soul here does not protrude and does not create the basis of the narrative, but rather looks like shadows that cast words and deeds, even if vicious. And these shadows just create an atmosphere of mysterious understatement, making the film something much more than an ordinary thriller.
8 out of 10
The film kept in suspense at first and until the very last episode. Thanks to his detective line, thanks to the play of Isabelle Huppert, from the fact that he is beautiful, elegant, subtle, erotic. All together.
The film is complex, the heroine is surrounded by problems, each of which can break a person, especially a person with a wounded soul, if you remember her childhood trauma. That's not happening here. On the contrary, Michelle emerges as the winner of all the plot disasters. I don't know where she gets her strength from. By the end of the film, not only does Michelle bounce back, but everything is sorted out one way or another. No wonder the film has such a name - everything revolves around her. Strong, brave, intelligent woman.
The religious line of the film is peculiarly presented. She is shown in the film emphatically hypocritically - wooden statues for Christmas, listening to mass during a party, the awareness of the wife - a saint about the "adventures" of her husband. And the father of the heroine is also somehow connected with the topic of religiosity - drew crosses on the forehead of children. The topic is spelled out with a subtle and, sometimes, breaking dotted line. It looks like a mockery of the Catholic Church.
Michelle and her actions are very contradictory. Whether she is truly a friend, or does she act in revenge for her family well-being? It seems that the recognition of the heroine is not so much sincerity as the desire to mess up, take revenge on the “happy” couple. In relation to her rapist, Michelle clearly has “gentle” feelings and believes that the relationship between them can grow into something healthy, but her question is alarming: how did you feel? how did you feel? why are you doing this? The feeling that she needs something different from the rapist, that Michelle is using it to understand her father's motives. The director, as if, plays with the duality of her actions: maybe so, or quite differently.
The complexity of the film and the actions of the characters are largely explained by the complexity of life and the actions of people. We are not always completely sincere and honest with ourselves, and broadcast outside only our version of what is happening, and motives can be very different and, sometimes, not fully aware of ourselves.
9 out of 10
I have an opinion that American cinema is a burp of European cinema. European films are more elaborated, the characters are better drawn. A separate "story" for me is French cinema. It has a certain authentic character.
At the end of 2016, I discovered Paul Verhoeven’s film Her. I have never seen anything like this creature before. That's what I liked.
The main character is a real masterpiece of the great master. This is not only the merit of the actress Isabelle Huppert, and the writers and director. For me, at least, this is an absolutely original and unclichéd character.
What do you see at the beginning of the film? The main character is attacked by an unknown person and rapes her. How should an average woman behave? Write a report to the police, fall into depression, close in yourself, maybe get drunk or even kill yourself etc. Nothing like that. Of course, she reported to the police, but it feels like nothing special happened to her. A terrible event in the eyes of another woman is perceived by her indifferently.
What is it? It's about experience. She won't be surprised. The story that happened as a child with her father changed her inner world. Michelle and her father became famous throughout the country. Rare people don't know her.
Yes, and besides that, there is a bedlam in life. So there is no time for annoyance and torment. She decides to find her rapist. And finds him. This is where an unexpected turn comes in.
The movie is brilliant. Isabelle Huppert's performance is matchless and Oscar-worthy. Although Oscar got away with the nomination, but the Golden Globe overtook her. Verhoeven proved everything that he has her gunpowder in powderpowder and he is still a cool director. It can't ruin the years gone by or the failure of the Girls Show in the old days. His work was ahead of time. It's too early to be written off.
Overall, this is one of the best films of recent years.
Shame is not a strong enough feeling to stop a person.
Her father was offended when the parents of the children of the neighborhood asked to stop baptizing their foreheads. She is a once-girl with a sensational photo covered in ashes next to her psychotic father. Perhaps from there and all the absurdity of her adult life, imbued with the smell of the fire of that terrible day.
White skin and red hair, nymphomaniac, aesthetic and, of course, rebellious for 50 years. In the beginning, it seems that only she is absurd. The son is a fool, the ex-husband is a naive loser, the daughter-in-law is a hysterical shabby, the mother is an elderly nymphomaniac and these are only representatives of her family. Friends, neighbors, and colleagues are humanists, monsters, and cyber monsters. Questions about norms are constantly asked in the film, under the backdrop of Catholic Christmas and the fuss of religious neighbors. Having a nightmare and continuing to live as if nothing had happened, as a human or as a monster. To participate in a nightmare is forced or voluntary, does it mean to be a human or a monster? Marry a young Alphonse at 80, rape women as a young and handsome trader, sleep with a best friend's husband, have a child with a black family friend. All manifestations of the absurd, it seems, do not surprise Michelle, she is not afraid of the truth. Everyone is fighting their own psychological battle, which manifests itself in the form of inappropriate behavior, crimes. Sometimes they are stopped by people who seem to have no skin. In the end, inexperience beats the extreme degree of sophistication, a monster in real life beats a cyber monster, children beat parents. The winners stand on a pedestal and know that there will be beats by new demons, the only thing that remains is to continue to throw parties and build your life.
All people with a wounded soul are not boring people. All people with wounded souls are chameleons. All people on the planet are people with a wounded soul. The fracture of the soul creates miracles, absurdities, sensations, forms public opinion. Broken souls give out regalia, make history, put labels and make them imitate and sometimes kill themselves ... others, breed their own kind.
There is no perfect life. Cyber game 'Monster Hunt' continues and takes us all to a new level, forward to new monsters, where life seems a parody of life. Get your demon out and look him in the eye, strip his mask off and kill him, and then set about the next one, like in a news chronicle about a serial killer, like in a video game, like in a dream. This is the absurdity of the film of our lives, to be afraid, which is not necessary.
Fighting the parody around you is the most senseless thing to do, fighting your monsters is the highest form of freedom. 10:00 hit. The terrible truth becomes the usual truth if you talk about it with laughter, washed down with French cognac.
May he be cursed and condemned to torment! Close the book, ring the bells, put out the candle! Amen.
Make the viewer live another person’s life for two hours
I didn’t think cinema could do that. But what Paul Verhoeven did this time, frankly, shocked me. What is it? It seems to be a banal story, filmed by many masters of cinema. So what can she do about it?
Well... let’s start with the fact that the film almost does not have a clear genre. This is sociodrama, and psychodrama, and erothriller, and even a light detective. All these genres are like crossed lines of life of the main character - French Michelle. This story is about a rather remarkable and controversial madam, who seems both happy and unhappy at the same time, open to everyone and at the same time closed, smiling and tearful, proud and pliable, hard-hearted and loving. But what sets her apart from all others is that she is an independent and free woman who has control over both her independence and her freedom. Once she had to face an outright crime against herself, but managed to deftly manage the consequences.
Who is 'She'? Not a female vamp, not a courtesan, not even a businesswoman. This is a woman who can create her own existence. To live by patterns and at the same time use them for their own purposes, to love and hate at the same time, and to use, again for their own purposes, love and hatred to their advantage.
This is actually a movie by an actress. Naturally, Verhoeven was eyeing the candidates for the role of Michelle. The selection was thorough. How successful I can't say. Hupper Played. Did she manage the role? It is difficult to answer, it is impossible to compare, and film tests will not show us. Maybe it would be better to play Stone, Kidman or Moore. Maybe... But it's not that important.
The main thing is that before us is a very tasty story, an episode from the life of a magnificent, meaningful, in all respects charming Parisian woman. But... If it were perfect, the movie wouldn't have come out, and we'd have been drooling and soap opera for two hours. But something must push away from the heroine. And that too is.
Look, real connoisseurs of good movies, you will not regret it.
I didn’t understand this movie for the 2 hours it was going on, and I still don’t understand now that it’s over and I’m sitting at my laptop typing. What's written in the synopsis isn't true, it's not about a French woman looking for her rapist. It's a movie o. . . and that's where the misunderstanding begins, Verhoeven mixed too much in this thriller:
1) A film about sex, not about love, but about the carnal component of it. Sex is a measure of human meanness, where there is no shame in sleeping with a friend’s husband, knowing that it will hurt her. Verhoeven returns to another aspect of sex: divisions that are not discussed in society. The rapist of the main character is a mentally unstable type for whom sex without violence has no value, but if you think about it, then the same mentally unstable and the main character who consciously meets him, and her friends who close their eyes to this situation, and those who know the rapist and his addictions, and consciously close their eyes to them.
2) A film about injuries that cannot be healed with time. If a child in childhood sees what the main character faced, then whatever happens in her life and no matter how she hides from the past, finally it will not work out.
(3) A film about choice, choice of friends, lovers, personal path, memory, etc. Each next action is determined by the previous one and very often, you can correct the whole situation as a whole, just taking a step in the right direction, but, as we see in the example of the main characters, it is far from so simple.
(4) The film about the family, this is probably the most difficult theme of the film, because it shows far from perfect ' Hollywood' family, where the main problem is the choice of postcards for wedding invitations. The problems of this family are much worse, ranging from the psychological trauma that parents inflict on children, ending with the theme of forgiveness and returning to the family.
Too many important themes are collected in the film, which does not allow you to understand it immediately and put on any shelf for positive or negative films. But he really catches attention, I want to follow the characters, wait for the denouement, wait for the feeling of understanding, which comes much later than the final credits.
6 out of 10
Provocative erotic thriller with detective intrigue
Erotic thriller? A comedy about rape? Drama? Detective? Almost. Frankly obscene, with intellectual sarcasm, cynically and at the same time ironically, subtly and beautifully breaking into small pieces the hypocritical morality of modern society, exposing the already normal deviations from the “norm”, reminiscent of a typical French conversational drama on the surface, but, on deeper examination, a clever, filigree, provocative erotic thriller with detective intrigue and multilayered plot lines – this, perhaps, is closer to reality.
This is a full-fledged European film about a French woman who is faced with rape. In the life of Michelle - a wealthy Parisian, who owns a successful video game company with her friend - a lot of difficult and unpleasant: the ex-husband, looming on the horizon, has a new young passion; a stupid son, recently tied up with weed, married a pregnant non-factual-something-from-him hysterical; a mother with another alphonse; a wild April at work; fatigue from a new novel; memories inspired by the ongoing hype in the press, about a father-serial killer that interfere with quiet life ... Against all this, the rapist is not the worst.
This strong woman (and part-time - a bitch) is ready just to throw away broken dishes, change locks, take tests and everyday tell friends at dinner: "I was raped." Let's order.” That’s just her rapist constantly reminds of himself, not the worst way, however, diversifying her life, because at some point Michelle connects to his strange, wild game, which she even likes.
The film is deep, full, atmospheric, beautiful and daring, it is absolutely time to miss, and it is extremely difficult to guess how it will end (and in general, you do not think about it, you just enjoy what is happening). The picture is quite heavy, but it causes laughter (or rather sad chuckles), because in a crisis situation after not getting through to your ex-husband and lover, why not ask for help from your rapist, mm? This is just one of the scenes in the movie!
In addition to the above, the film has several advantages.
First of all (because of which you can immediately watch the movie) is the brilliant Isabel Huppert. A woman of incredible beauty, with a sharp mind, style, indisputable talent and attractive charisma, who very organically played the main role, showing everyone that a woman can be beautiful, sexy and at the same time not vulgar, in her 60s (and it is absolutely impossible to imagine in her place someone else!). What she does on the screen can not leave indifferent.
Second, contrary to my expectations, it’s not a single-actor movie (although the starring performer is at the forefront here). There are many characters and each has its own bright character. And you play them so that you empathize with everyone.
And, of course, in the third, but no less important or notable degree, is the brilliant director Paul Verhoeven, who not often, but pleases us with worthy films. Moreover, in the erotic theme, he is an ace, no less than the “Basic Instinct” is worth (have you already seen the video with the screen tests of Sharon Stone? If not – be sure to look, this is something!) and undeservedly failed at the box office “Shogels”. What he has masterfully shown in this picture.
The film is beautifully shot. Erotic, subtle, daring, beautiful, famously bypassed templates, and even with an unusual, sweet-playing aftertaste (and for more than a year as).
I recommend all fans of Isabel Huppert, Paul Verhoeven, as well as connoisseurs of author's cinema.
The film immediately shows the unpleasant aspects of life: a successful woman of age, who has a bad past and a gray present, who is raped at the very beginning of the film and has strange desires and relationships with others; her son, living his life, tries to be independent and a man, which he does not get well; his bitchy pregnant bride, who is not clear from whom she is pregnant, and with whom his mother does not get along with her; problems at work; threats of a rapist; worthless men around, selfishly craving only sex under any conditions and circumstances, young students, etc. It would seem complete some hopelessness, black, gray and perishable. But the film doesn't repel or cause negativity, despite all that. It’s all well filmed – you can see the hand of a good director.
The acting work is good, especially Hupper. Very difficult role and character. She has a wealthy lady in her years, very domineering, cynical and even, it seems, dry and stale, she goes ahead, does not buckle under circumstances, and hides emotions behind the mask of indifference. On the other hand, despite her strong-willed qualities and social position, she is unhappy and lonely – her life has been ruined in every way since childhood, as if trying to break or finish it off, or, on the contrary, making her even more inflexible.
The narrative is interesting. And holds the film more because of the proportion of the detective and the exploitation of the subject of sex. There's a lot of him here, and he has different manifestations. In general, a good movie, you can watch anyone. Someone will like the drama of life, someone will appreciate the thriller / detective, someone will hook up with a sexual relationship. Nevertheless, the film seemed to me weaker than the same “Basic Instinct” and “Schogels”, shot by Verhoeven.
To sum up: a rather interesting thriller from Paul Verhoeven. The film is depressing but uses a sexual theme. And in a rather peculiar way.
Who should not watch: who does not like heavy movies with violence
8 out of 10
A young woman is raped in her home by an unknown person. After that, she takes a bath, puts on makeup and goes to her own office, making erotic sadomasochistic computer games. Will the rapist come back again?
When you begin to understand Verhoeven, you find that his films are almost flawless, but they are difficult to disassemble into details and even harder to find any coherent idea. Except that 'She' - the title - should push something...
After all, Verhoeven’s woman, especially in the second half of his career, is generally the central character. I remember, against 'Basic Instinct' feminists and lesbians (often the same thing). No way. Katherine Tramel was one of the first (and almost the last) characters to play in a postmodern spirit and quite cruel to lightning carriers. In her game, men are just toys. It's a kind of matriarchal game model. And the role of the top (victim choice) is played by female sexuality. The scene of the crotch demonstration is a direct mockery of the sexual nature of the men who followed her like a rabbit for a carrot. Only for someone the carrot will be stuffed in the form of a knife for an ice pick.
But in 'Instinct' The Dutchman still remains within the framework of an erotic thriller. In ' Ney' he goes beyond them, and the traditions of psychological European cinema are equal to genre games. So erotic (?) thriller, detective, intellectual drama, satire, and sometimes just comedy coexist with a bunch of archetypes (male) and at least one living character. Of course, the women who have the... There are a lot of things to do.
Especially when you consider the background of the main character. Her father, neither more nor less, is a maniac known throughout France, who on religious grounds killed several dozen people and set fire to their houses. Great, probably, was the temptation to limit the relationship of father and daughter - guilt complexes, repentance, reconciliation, etc. That's just the director-provocateur puts an end to these relations - for the heroine Hupper they are unambiguous. The habitual behavior of family consent present as value is no longer relevant. There is no psychological subtlety here for Michelle. Black is black, white is white, and therefore the father is a maniac who ruined her life (and at the same time the immediate victims) because he managed to shift his guilt to his daughter. In this, by the way, tried and the media – it was the TV showed the girl against the background of the destruction of the cute dad.
And then there's the rape. What would be another tragedy and an excuse to go to the police, for Michelle becomes something else. She is not in a hurry to call anyone for help. Apparently, she knows that her story will cause not sympathy, but rather gloating. For most, it is a receptacle of original sin, a kind of bogeyman for the general whip (a show scene in a cafe where a stranger pours this ' righteous' anger). But repentance and taking on the role of an innocent victim (scapegoat) is clearly not for her. Life itself makes her resist.
Fortunately, the environment, even the closest, also sees her not in rainbow colors. A mother, jealous (only very veiled and peculiar) daughter to her father, or just wanting reconciliation. A lover sexually exploiting Michelle. An infantile son, who, however, is honored by evolution. Ex-husband, guilty of a single, but lashing blow. The mother's lover is a stupid gigolo, but he also beats out the right to humiliate himself. Male colleagues playing with a virtual image of Michelle It does not matter how the detective story is solved in the sense of answering the question: who is the rapist? What matters is how Michelle herself changes. Catharsis of the finale shows once again that the mocked scumbags-men, although mutated and weakened, but the gene of violence from them has not disappeared. A' she' essentially freed from genetic dependence on them - paternal, sexual, ideological. And in general - women, even a daughter-in-law with a mother-in-law and a wife with a mistress, it was much easier to negotiate between themselves. We are entering a world where hosts have changed into hostess. He is clearly in awe of them.
The film Paul Verhoeven (I hope that the name you have already heard), from which it is impossible to break away. What are "Basic Instinct" with Sharon Stone and "Remember Everything" with Arnold Schwarzenegger! "She" is so disgustingly attractive, and after it I definitely realized that I like stories where the main character is a martyr. There is a lot of conflicting emotion in watching what is happening on the screen. As you know, it was quite difficult to pick up an actress for the role of Michelle, so I had to shoot the film not in the States, but in France, of course, with a French film crew. “She” is based on the novel “Philip Dijan” (so for your note, suddenly you want to dig deeper into this). What does on the screen Isabel Huppert is generally difficult to formulate. This is a woman-rock, flint, I think she is somewhat insensitive, because the amount of misfortunes that falls on her, God forbid, there would be one thing to experience, and Michelle stress and problems literally go toe-to-toe.
So that the viewer does not relax, he is immediately raped in the first five minutes. What would a normal woman do? The tantrums, the tears, the police report. What will the main character do? Are you watching the game closely? It's just an impenetrable armor behind where emotions should be. You expect her to fall, but nothing will break her. Psychological drama and manual for doctors of the corresponding direction. Here you go and
Relationship with the mother, who at his age manages to give odds to the young;
- a maniac father who ruined her whole life, reputation;
-son Vincent (Jones Bloque), who throws up problems with the inability to deal with his life;
Ex-husband, with whom the relationship can be normal, but not quite.
The best friend that she manages to screw up;
- lover;
Do I need to add an incident list? You have to look at this! You have to see this! Such an absurdity that it is simply impossible to repeat it a second time and no matter how much I try to force myself to look at it, in order to somehow understand the heroine and the motives of her behavior, they are not clear to me. All her flirting with her neighbor Patrick (Laurent Laffitt), everywhere there is so much understatement and emphasized politeness that you just have a bewilderment: how can this be?! And as we move forward, we move from the frames of the past, which I believe are not fully disclosed, to the frames of the present, with the current rape.
Taking what’s happening on the screen seriously is difficult because it’s hard to believe. Lots of sexual overtones. It is not clear how a woman with a similar mindset and character got to her job (head of sales of computer games), and they are quite infantile, perverse and frivolous with a seemingly normal adult lady. At the same time, the age of the actress is not forty-nine years old as the main character, but the seventh decade, so it is worth thinking about her stunning figure and appearance for this image. Looking at a dozen incomprehensible and partially understandable words that can describe this picture: existentiality, ambivalence, history, authenticity. I don't think anyone will see themselves in this character, but only partially. You can compare her to Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac” in some way, but again, in my opinion, he does not go too far with the topic of sex, except in a painful and perverse form, but only because the heroine is too restrained for everything that happens to her.
9 out of 10
Michelle is a rich, successful woman of 50 years with a wounded soul of a little defenseless girl in ashes. Despite external inaccessibility and coldness, she lacks simple female happiness in life - love and care. Michelle is surrounded by people who need love so much that they can not, do not know how, and perhaps do not want to give it: an infantile mother, a loser-ex-husband, a spoiled son, a worried husband of a best friend and... a rapist?
I loved the whole film, its unobtrusive idea of finding harmony and love, its implicit intrigue and its special composition. Isabelle Huppert is my favorite actress who has outdone herself. I also liked how some critic already said that this film is a sequel to The Pianist, because the idea of both films is similar: how far can you go to feel loved?
There are several storylines in the film, but they do not interrupt the general plot and only better help to understand the reason for the actions of the main character. Strong, intelligent, but at the same time loving, sensual, dreaming of true love, Michelle eventually finds herself, and we remember who we are with her.
The film shows the formation of a personality, and what is most interesting - this personality has been almost 50 years. Michelle learns not only to love, but to relate to life in general. Despite the death of both parents, the heroine (and we with her) understands that the past cannot be changed, even if there are no witnesses to it - you can only learn to live on. Living on, loving and being loved, because it turns out love is a little closer and much more tender than Michelle thought.
10 out of 10
Maybe I just didn’t understand the movie, maybe it just wasn’t for me, but I wasn’t happy with what I saw on screen! Everything in order.
I doubted for a long time whether I should watch this film, but still I decided, which I have repeatedly regretted.
For me, these two hours were a waste of time.
I don’t understand so many positive reviews, they even scare me, because I don’t know how this is ' a masterpiece ' could appeal to so many people. I feel like a winner because I managed to watch it all the way to the end, even though I hesitated many times and wanted to turn it off! I feel like a winner because I was able to watch it almost nonstop!
This film is absurd, all the actions in it, all the characters that the director wanted to convey? What's the point of this movie? Why did you have to take it off?
The only thing that comes to mind is that the meaning of the film is in a society that continues to rot, but even that thought is not worth the two hours.
In this film, there is clearly too much dirt and debauchery.
There's rape, and masturbating the main character, and the development of some perverted game! What to say, full set, gentlemen.
If at first the film was still somehow intriguing, then completely merged and watching what was happening was just ridiculous.
All characters are stupid in their own way, you do not sympathize with anyone.
I probably just couldn’t understand this film and maybe these films aren’t for me, maybe this review will cause a lot of disapproval, but I would be happy if I could talk someone out of watching this film.
Yeah, the plus of the movie is that you're going to be impressed for a long time. Because you can't get rid of all this dirt.
There is something in this movie.
But even this ' something' does not prevent me from saying that I would absolutely not lose anything if I did not watch it, on the contrary, I would save two hours of my time and spend them on something more useful!
4 out of 10
I like all Verhoeven's films, especially the one I want to defend the unfairly criticized Shawgirls and the supposedly primitive Star Troopers. There is nothing to say about the classics like Remember Everything and the Basic Instinct. So the movie was looking forward to.
Alas, that shot is past. I risk running into minuses, but the truth (my personal, audience) is more expensive.
Not worked out line with the father of the main character. What, why, why? Do an interesting experiment. When watching the movie, simply skip any episodes where the father is mentioned. Is the film going to lose something? Except for tightness. That is, the influence on the plot is zero.
Now son... This handsome man, two heads taller than his father and mother, is freaking out because of some unfaithful girl??? I don't believe it! He can get half the women in Paris with that data. The actor is trying, but which one is a confused teenager? Where did he come from from a gray father and a short mother?
Isabelle Huppert. I don't know where the acting is, so forgive me the Golden Globe and the other Oscars. Imagine Eva Green or Monica Bellucci in this role. They are too bright and can not convey the icy indifference? They can, that's acting. And they can't - criticize them and foo, not reward. I don't understand this actress, unfortunately.
A scene in the hospital with a dying mother. Michelle's monologue doesn't fit into her image, why is she, the snow queen, suddenly so excited and angry? Stupid, artificial, voice-over laughter is not enough.
During the viewing, you can see the artificiality of both the characters and everything that happens. All of this has already happened, everyone has seen it.
If you want to see the icy indifference and satire of modern society, then watch Young and Beautiful. If you want something scandalously sexy, watch Bitter Moon or British Intimacy. This is where the plot, and the characters are alive, and the actors in their places, and the motivation does not limp.
Disappointed, extremely.
Oh, those European directors! They'll come up with something. ' She' is another example of the usual European cinema content. The film is rather strange, but catches attention. After watching, I want to know the thoughts of other viewers about this movie. And most importantly, everyone asks: why instead of ending her rapist once and for all, the main character Michelle on the contrary continues to date him?
As soon as women hear the word 'rape' we immediately have a terrible picture. All self-respecting females regard rape as a brutally terrible act that a man can commit, which subsequently leads to the possibility of losing confidence in the entire male sex. I don’t know how men feel about it in general, but women have dignity and pride. So I want to dedicate my review to the victims of such a brutal crime.
So back to the movie itself. Michelle (Isabelle Huppert) with his coolness and indifference to some extent frightens. Having learned the true identity of her rapist, she did not seek help, but decided ' to handle it all by herself. From the beginning, we wanted to find out who was hiding under the ski mask. Had it been revealed at the end, the film would have been just a typical thriller. That's not what we did here. Let the movie be not about the criminal, but about the victim.
Honestly, I don’t even know how to understand the story. My head is spinning from this kind of event. On the one hand, it seems as if she understood the inner state of the man, his mental problems. Therefore, she did not behave as she should in such incidents, in order to confuse him and perhaps show him his problems. On the other hand, I may be wrong, but there's a hint of feminism somewhere. . . That's the name. . . 'She'. This movie is about her. What she did.
Overall, I like the idea. Very original and interesting. What I didn't like was that the film was still dragging on to a few unnecessary moments. Michelle's daughter-in-law was very annoying. He constantly shouts, makes tantrums, provokes.
As Isabelle Huppert herself said, you should not take this movie seriously. She also advises not to cram your head in search of answers. But who will listen to it?
Cool movie, cool! Unusual, like most. Simple at first glance. A film for film lovers with experience.
The story begins with a terrible thing. A woman is being abused. And it would seem that the victim should start to worry and this should be based on the main motive, BUT ... the film is not in a single intrigue, but in the details, which speaks of the director Verhoeven as a great connoisseur and professional. As you know, the artist differs from the artisan by the presence of details and nuances in his works. So in this film Verhoeven acts as a true master of his craft. In many films that are similar to the books of classics, such as Balzac, the main aspect is taken separately, and in details and details. In the film, as in almost all the works of Hollands, who already in old age has a sexual theme. She saturated the whole movie. By the way, Haneke’s film “The Pianist” was remembered thanks to the inimitable Isabel Huppert and an intimate theme.
Hupper is a heroine who is all in care. She's not the kind of woman you can call cold like in Haneke's movie. She is already an adult and morally and physically, intelligent, cultured and sexy woman. It is quite pleasant and human, not devoid of adult attractiveness and adequate emotionality. By the way, it is worth noting that many women are much sexier and more interesting to men when older and wiser. Even after forty, with self-care and understanding of your female self. In addition, the mind in the 21st century is most attractive to adept men.
Separately, it is worth talking about blood ties with the father. How he ruined the fate of his daughter. And look at the son of the main character! What is he like? A man? Hardly. More like a boy. The main character lives very uneasy due to the past.
In the film, the family and possible problems associated with it, psychological problems - questions and answers. Only after difficult trials in the life of the heroine everything is better. As if experiencing real unrest, comes what worried her all her life.
I must say again that Hupper is an amazing actress and very natural. Few people of her age, or even much younger, could accept such an outspoken role. No wonder many Hollywood actresses refused to participate in the film.
Verhoeven is a master of erotic thrillers, and Hupper is an impeccable actress.
Paul Verhoeven created, thanks to his new picture 'She' a new format of feminism XXI century. Modern Woman, through the eyes of the director, is stronger, smarter, more agile than any man in all manifestations and in any field.
If before a woman treated violence as a certain end point of normal life, a point of no return, then here the heroine Isabel Huppert fights back to the boss, so he is lost. She even looks at the situation as a role-playing game with signs of a twisted fantasy. Sometimes you wonder what's wrong with her? Except her father isn't a serial killer. But that's another story altogether.
Paul Verhoeven is always on top, taking new heights, which other directors are afraid to take. And next to him stand his new muse, the inimitable Isabel Hupper.
“She” is a picture revealing different aspects of the life of a successful Parisian Michelle, the owner of a video game company.
The main character is abused in his own home. In parallel, the film describes Michelle’s childhood, relations with his son, with his mother and father and with the world around him.
The identity of the main character begins to be revealed at the very beginning, in the form of a restrained reaction to rape. Suspiciously restrained. I’m even more worried when I get a review score.
A little later, when the identity of the father is revealed to us, it will become clear that Michelle’s composure is not a consequence of shock, but the most deviant behavior that goes back to childhood.
If you think about it, we get a full set – the mother is a lover of young admirers, the son refuses to accept reality, raising someone else’s child. Her father is a serial killer, and Michelle herself runs a business that is not quite typical for women - sadomaso. From the standpoint of the norm, the behavior of all actors is unusual.
At one point in the film, I wondered if there was rape. Is it possible that this is a kind of game? As Freud said, everything that happens in bed by mutual consent is the norm.
I'm afraid to be hit by a hail of stones from Verhoeven's admirers, but I want to say. In my opinion, the main storyline is slightly illogical. I will formulate my opinion as follows. In the main story, i.e. in the episode of violence, there is no search and prosecution of the criminal. The animation moment doesn't count. In other words, if the perpetrator had not “burned” and/or committed a second attack, the heroine Isabel Huppert would have to simply forget about what happened. In the last episode, she miraculously escaped violence. Where's the response? Where is the claimed thriller?
Wealthy Parisian Michelle LeBlanc owns a large company developing video games for adults. After a divorce from her husband and the marriage of her son, she lives alone in a large house, which in her absence is guarded by a lazy domestic cat. But the cat guard, as you might guess, is not the best. That is why one day an uninvited masked guest breaks into Michelle’s house, who unceremoniously rapes the hostess and leaves numerous marks of beatings on the body. However, this abuse does not leave a deep trace in the soul of the victim.
Having powdered her nose, Michelle the next day goes, as if nothing had happened, to the service - to lead the production of her hellish kitchen, serving the addiction of numerous gamers, just waiting for the release of another brutal pornographic toy. And yet forced sex awakens Michelle’s long-standing psychotrauma related to her childhood and her father, a serial killer serving a life sentence. And now, in every man she knows, Michelle begins to see her recent rapist. She hopes to figure it out, but not in order to send him to prison.
This kitsch-thrash story after the implementation could well turn into a complete failure for the 78-year-old Verhoeven, who after a long period of downtime risked falling into a characteristic senile insanity, covering at this age even very good in the past directors, suddenly losing touch with reality. However, the Dutchman, despite a decade of half-forgetting, rebelled, aki Phoenix from the ashes. As Bunuel, he shot in old age not only cheerful and sparkling, but also in a good evil movie - an uncompromising satire on the mores reigning in modern society.
It seemed to many that Verhoeven had long exhausted the potential of the creative fury that once made him one of the leaders of world directing. He was already on the foreground for quite a long time, noisily declaring himself passionate and reckless "Turkish sweets" back in 1973, and then, moving to Hollywood, for another two decades, made a rustle in the factory Dreams, forcing there fat-wigs to shell out for his increasingly expensive and ambitious projects. Until I got burned at The Show Eyes...
Isabelle Huppert at the same time steadily bent her line, remaining in full view in the image of the leading actress of French cinema, who best succeeded in the role of a deviant character. Having clearly outlined the vector of her creative preferences in The Pianist by Michael Haneke, she simultaneously made that role her calling card, although more than once after that she tried either to radically change the role (“8 women”), or to further strengthen the paraphilic destructiveness of her heroines (“My Mother”).
Her works were not lost in vain: 15 years after the role of a music teacher at the Vienna Conservatory, a visiting Dutchman lured a 63-year-old Frenchwoman into a project in which the actress’ talent played with new colors and unexpected shades. Moreover, for this role Hupper received almost a record number of prizes and nominations. Her Michelle (not afraid of occult pathos) is the messenger of Hell. It serves the needs of gamers – an anonymous mass of consumers who prefer the virtual world to the real world.
She lives in a world free from shame. In a world where everyone is young, even on the verge of death, as, for example, the mother of Michelle, who is going to marry a lover who is quite fit for her grandchildren. In this cynical environment, rape is not a pathology or a perversion, but rather a sexual adventure that Michelle would like to continue. The main gamer treats everything that happens to her as a kind of virtual game, and tries to understand the rules of this game to make it manageable.
In this story, disguised as a vulgar detective, as in a good pie you find as you chew several meaningful layers impregnated with the sensual moisture of the performer and the intellectual heat of the director. Each time Hupper manages to convey not a specific emotion, but the “ambivalent ambiguity” of the heroine’s reactions. And here it is brought to the absolute. Therefore, you are always in some confusion about the main character, trying to understand what is really happening to her.
Characteristic for Hupper “minimalist style” of performance, when the face of the actress seems to express little, will refocus all attention on the inner living, which in this case is designed to reflect the cardinal transformation of Michelle – from victim to monster. This metamorphosis is triumphantly played by the actress, who would hardly have pulled out all these nuances without the help of the director, who suddenly appeared here not prone to shocking parvenu, but a sage who has already learned something about our world that we do not even know...