PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Paul Verhoeven, director of the film Elle.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

After winning 2 Golden Globes and participating to the Festival de Cannes, Elle is finally in Italian cinemas and Paul Verhoeven was in Rome to introduce it to the italian audience. On FRED he describes his adaptation of the book Oh…by Philippe Dejan and how he got inspiration from his wife to shape the protagonist’s character and strength. Michèle (Isabelle Huppert) is a woman who refuses to be a victum and to be trated like one so Verhoeven comments on whether women are born with the necessary strength to fight these violences or instead, it’s an attitude they choose to acquire in life. Elle is a film about a woman who doesn’t follow any rules. She always tells the truth and it is on truth and cruel reality that Verhoeven sets the whole film, without judging the protagonist’s choices.

Elle: Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game—a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.