Patricia Abbott (pattinase): ELLE's Isabelle Huppert

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

ELLE's Isabelle Huppert

We saw the last of the 2017 movies on our list, ELLE, yesterday. It was not an easy movie to watch. However, Isabelle Huppert gives the best female performance I saw this year. She is fearless in playing a women who's raped and reacts surprisingly to it. And her rape is not the worst thing she has had to face. I am sure she will not win the Oscar but she deserves it. I have seen many of her films over the years and she has never failed to knock me out. It's too bad that American actresses in their sixties don't get this sort of material to work with. If you look at her last dozen movies and compare them to Meryl Streep's, you will see the difference. Hppert is still playing complex, sexy, strong women. Meryl just gets to play for laughs. Too bad.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...: Oh, that does sound like a tough film to see, Patti. Still, kudos to Huppert for a strong performance.; 7:36 AM
George said...: I want to see ELLE but it's not showing in a theater locally. I'll have to check NETFLIX and AMAZON.; 8:17 AM
Al Tucher said...: I still think ROBOCOP is Verhoevens best film.; 8:20 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Not SHOWGIRLS?; 8:44 AM
Jeff Meyerson said...: Pass.; 11:08 AM
Al Tucher said...: SHOWGIRLS is far from being the unwatchable abomination that a lot of people said it was but its still a long way from being his best film, although it is much better than BASIC INSTINCT which i always thought was laughable garbage.; 3:20 PM
Steve Oerkfitz said...: Paul Verhoeven is 78 now but people who know him say that when hes on the set of a movie hes more like a 38 year-old!, those are the incredible levels of enthusiasm that he still obviously has for the film-making process, its quite astonishing really.; 4:23 PM
J F Norris said...: Streep as Margaret Thatcher was played for laughs? Hardly. Neither was the Witch in INTO THE WOODS. But Huppert was never known for being light in her acting. She was in I HEART HUCKABEES ANd was sort of Ok as a comic actress. I just pretty much hated that movie. The other time I saw her in a quasi-comic part she wasn't funny at all. It was 8 WOMEN (also a musical) and she was stiff and forced in the parts where she was called upon to be funny.

I'm interested in seeing ELLE but it's playing at ridiculously late hours in my neighborhood. Who goes to a movie at 9:55 PM on a weeknight?! The unemployed and students, I guess. Hope I can catch it in a theater near my day job right after work before it disappears.

In other movie news: ARRIVAL is in re-release because it was nominated for eight Oscars! When was the last time a genuine science fiction movie (as opposed to fantasy and action science fiction) was paid this close attention by the Academy? Highly recommended. The best, most intelligent science fiction film I've seen since MOON, directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones and starring Sam Rockwell. And that was over eight years ago.; 12:43 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: ELLE is a difficult film. She certainly is not afraid to parse unlikable.
Streep was obviously not given these choices although she could occasionally take on an indie film rather than the Hollywood pay. Playing an aging rock star did not require any acting chops. Annette Benning and Julianne Moore are more fearless. Hate to see her do a De Niro and end her career playing fluff.; 4:36 PM
J F Norris said...: Bening and Moore, both in their mid 50s, are considerably younger than Streep who is fast approaching seventy. I think they can afford to still take risks in the roles they choose. Anyway, I hope Streep doesn't take that road either. We know she won't do what Bette Davis and Joan Crawford did. As much as I unabashedly have enjoyed movies like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Strait Jacket and The Nanny no one writes those kind of crazy old lady murder thrillers anymore. I guess we ought to be happy for some advancement in moviemaking.

Speaking of DeNiro and his poor choices in his late career -- THE COMEDIAN was panned. Looked like an awful sit com based on the trailer I saw on TV a few weeks ago. With Patti LuPone playing another screaming harridan. Reason enough to skip it.; 8:34 PM
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