Elle - 2016 - 7/10

Challenging French fare that defies expectations.
Early on - say first scene - there is a rape (for the sensitive, there are a pair of flashbacks later on, too).
The victim does not phone the police, but simply goes to the clinic the next day and requests an STD panel.
She does not tell friends, family, coworkers.
Partly, she does not know the assailant’s identity (he wore a mask) and she is trying to determine who it is.
Party … well, there are elements within her, call it the past, that are outside the normal.
Isabelle Huppert captures this rogue soul. Brittle, icy, razor smart, and possessed with an offhand cunning.
Elle seems to wander aimlessly. Don’t be fooled. Investigation and retribution are at the core.