Elle

Terri Murray scrutinises a feminist film about a woman who desires her rapist. Warning: SPOILERS

- Terri Murray

At first glance, director Paul Verhoeven’s film Elle (2016) might seem a far cry from a feminist treatise, but then no one has ever been accused of getting Verhoeven right at first glance. His film Basic Instinct (1992) was probably the most empowering film for women of its generation, but that didn’t prevent critics from both the religious right and the radical feminist left railing against it. Those feminists insisted that it was ‘lesbophobic’, despite depicting female, and especially lesbian, sexuality in a positive light, while also providing sharp satirical jabs at American male chauvinism and machismo.

Throughout his career, Verhoeven has consistently represented empowered female characters, in films such as such as Showgirls, The 4th Man, and Black Book, to name just a few. Elle is no exception. Verhoeven’s most recent release is about how resilient, smart, capable and sexually powerful women are nevertheless disempowered, and participate unwittingly in their own subjugation. In this Verhoeven is not out to diminish women, but rather to dissect and analyse female disempowerment and why feminism fails. This is not a patriarchal film, but a film about patriarchy and its detrimental consequences. Feminists can learn a lot from the film if they look past first impressions and read the subtext.

The Damage Done