MovieChat Forums > Elle (2016) Discussion > Maybe the REAL twist of this movie is......

Maybe the REAL twist of this movie is..... (HUGE SPOILERS)

posted 8 years ago by Vicenzo-VV
25 replies | jump to latest

...that there never was any rape.

Maybe Michele and Patrick had some sort of understanding that he could come over once in a while to do this rape thing. Because he needed it. And, more shockingly, because Michele enjoyed it.

It would explain the strange reaction of Patrick's wife near the end of the movie where she basically thanks Michele for helping him out for a while. She thanks Michelle because she was glad she herself stopped being the victim of her husband's agressive sexual tendencies and would instead go across the road to get his unusual sexual pleasure.

Which would make it consentual sex.

It also explains Patrick's reaction in the car as Michele says she's going to the police and tell them everything. He has a shocked look on his face and seems to wonder how she could do such a terrible thing.

Now to watch the movie in this light makes it even more disturbing because that would make Patrick 100% victim of murder.

Murdering their neighbours was already a big theme in the movie, right...? ;D

The massacre in the 70's father - daughter collaboration.

This time it's a mother - son collabtoration.

Damn this movie is demented...

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man..."

[–] Mina-Josie 8 years ago

I can see where your idea is coming from, but in my opinion, this is not the case. The film shows Michèle having flashbacks of the first rape - and it's obvious that that is not a nice memory - and becoming paranoid about being attacked again.

[–] Mina-Josie 8 years ago

[–] Vicenzo-VV 8 years ago

Okay fair enough but how would you explain the two specific scenes that I mentioned?

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man..."

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 8 years ago

Nearly all the women in this film are really twisted

Really? Only the women? And the men were innocent lambs? Every single person in this movie was twisted in their own way.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] vapor8 8 years ago

I have to admit the scene with Patrick's wife near the end threw me. However... Michelle did seem surprised by what Patrick's wife said. Definitely going to watch this masterpiece again... and again.

My Top TV Series Of All Time: http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000012/flat/259033940

[–] Henry J Sosenite 8 years ago

You're listing all this evidence, but in order for it to be "evidence" you must have some kind of theory. I think Verhoeven is playing off the fact that his viewers will go into films with theories and biases.

For me, the most compelling evidence points to the theory that Michele suffers from severe PTSD from the event in her childhood. This leaves her completely unable to deal with normal people; thus, she's drawn to her neighbor because he's a psychopath, just like her father. She's even willing to forgive him for brutally raping her.

It took me until AFTER watching the film and weighing all the evidence to come up with this theory. At one point I thought the rape scenes were all in her imagination. I forgive myself for that, since I'm biased in favor of escaping from reality. That's probably the biggest bias that Verhoeven exploits; after all, he makes movies!

[–] theDevilRidesOut 8 years ago

I like the PTSD thoery or sociopath from the start theory. The one thing I'm hung up on that could be the difference...

Does she set up the neighbor's murder by having her son drive the car back?

It is odd to me that he shows up at the house so soon, when I thought he was tasked with the party. Maybe I missed something

[–] vapor8 8 years ago

My initial thought when the son showed up was that he had to be in on it. Now i dont know what to think.

My Top TV Series Of All Time: http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000012/flat/259033940

[–] tallard 8 years ago

You're listing all this evidence, but in order for it to be "evidence" you must have some kind of theory. I think Verhoeven is playing off the fact that his viewers will go into films with theories and biases.

Absolutely

For me, the most compelling evidence points to the theory that Michele suffers from severe PTSD from the event in her childhood. This leaves her completely unable to deal with normal people; thus, she's drawn to her neighbor because he's a psychopath, just like her father. She's even willing to forgive him for brutally raping her.

So she went from having PTSD to being a psychopath??? No I think she still simply has PTSD, which yes, can make her incompetent in choosing sexual partners.

It took me until AFTER watching the film and weighing all the evidence to come up with this theory. At one point I thought the rape scenes were all in her imagination. I forgive myself for that, since I'm biased in favor of escaping from reality. That's probably the biggest bias that Verhoeven exploits; after all, he makes movies!

The greatest manipulation of Verhoeven, in so many of his films, is to represent PTSD women act in self-defense, and get everybody who watches these films to be obsessed with "the crazy woman" instead of the lying cheating raping husbands...

No she is not "nice" to be having an affair with her best friend's husband (which she forceully ended after a few months), but that's a thing people with PTSD do... It does not make her psychotic.

***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**

[–] guccipix 8 years ago

I thought of that as well, but as others have pointed out, the first few were traumatic. Also if they had an understanding i dont think she'd stab him.

[–] Vicenzo-VV 8 years ago

I agree. It was just a random thought I had based on a those two scenes that are really puzzling in my opinion. But going by the explanation of the "understanding" it would mean like 15 other scenes don't make sense. It does look like the rapes are real and it's Michele's strange way of dealing with it which makes this movie so interesting.

I still don't get the scene near the end with Patrick's wife though, how she can be so casual when her rapist husband has just died. How can she talk like that to one of his victims?

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man..."

[–] Aizyk 8 years ago

What I got from that scene between Michele and Rebecca at the end was that Rebecca thought her husband and Michele were having an affair, and accepted it (and presumably knew that her husband liked rough sex). I didn't assume Rebecca knew he was a rapist.

| Fools rush in -- and get all the best seats. |

[–] Vicenzo-VV 8 years ago

What I got from that scene between Michele and Rebecca at the end was that Rebecca thought her husband and Michele were having an affair, and accepted it (and presumably knew that her husband liked rough sex). I didn't assume Rebecca knew he was a rapist.

That makes a lot of sense. That means at the moment she thought the affair started, she stopped getting beat up during sex, and that's why she thanks Michele...

"Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man..."

[–] workbumpf 8 years ago

Very interesting theory. The wife's reaction at the end was beyond odd. Your theory would explain it and her almost thanking Michele for 'helping' him.

Michele seems normal, even impassive, in the film but when you walk away from it you're forced to admit - she's nuts.

[–] dxben99 8 years ago

The scene at the end with Patrick's wife is there to show that she knew about all of it. I don't know how you get to the conclusion that it shows that Michele and Patrick had an understanding from the beginning. She was clearly not into it during the first rape and during the second attack she f'n stabbed him through the hand with scissors. How would that be part of the "game" if it was consensual?

[–] workbumpf 8 years ago

Remind me when I said the rape at the beginning was consensual?

[–] jonnieblack 8 years ago

I am inclined to agree with you. The scene in Patrick's basement is what did it for me. She says "do it" and he says "it has to be like last time." I think they started out having an affair, discovered they were both liked it rough, and that it went further and further over time. The first "rape" was probably not something she explicitly planned or consented to, so not a role play scenario, but an escalation of behavior. After it went that far he was not going to be satisfied with anything less. The stabbing of his hand, her injuries, all further escalations that they both enjoyed on some level.

[–] prplayer 8 years ago

i was also thinking something along those lines

so many movies, so little time