In Elle, Michéle (Huppert) is the seemingly 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 Michéle’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. Based on the novel by Philippe Djian. (Gary Reber)
Special features include the featurettes A Tale Of Empowerment: Making Elle (HD 07:15) and Celebrating An Icon: AFI’s Tribute To Isabelle Huppert (HD 36:59), the theatrical trailer, and upfront previews.
The 2.39:1 1080p AVC picture is digitally sourced. The color palette is perfectly balanced with a natural spectrum of hues, none of which overpower. Fleshtones are perfectly natural. The production design is focused on interiors, particularly in Michéle’s home, in which lightening is extremely low. As a result, resolution is soft, even in close-ups. Brighter interior scenes are better but not stellar. Contrast is restrained, as there are limited highlights. Still, black levels are deep and shadow delineation is revealing. Overall, the imagery projects a natural appearance steeped in realism. (Gary Reber)
The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel French language soundtrack is dialogue focused, with excellent spatial integration without the normal excessive Hollywood ADR treatment. The orchestral score is limited and provides extremely subtle surround envelopment. There are a couple of violent scenes and a party dancing scene in which the music does energize in the surround, Atmospherics and limited sound effects are frontal focused as well, except for applause among party guests in a scene. Deep bass is also extremely limited. Overall, this is a proficient soundtrack with quite good dialogue integration. (Gary Reber)