Elle

Y’know those back to school ads for Staples? The ones that repurpose the Christmas standard “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” to celebrate children going back class? I always hated those ads as a kid. Going back to school was not a time to celebrate. It was a time for grief and mourning.

Paul Verhoeven hasn’t released a new film since 2007's divisive World War II thriller Black Book, but the cult favorite director returns this year with two new films — one is the crowdsourced indie Tricked (opening soon in New York), and the other is the far more intriguing Elle, a French language thriller starring Isabelle Huppert, a cat and a hammer.