History Film / Elle

** UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 booths are visible at the game launch party.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elle_4.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The American poster is innocuous. [[CoversAlwaysLie The film is not.]]]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Michèle when spying on her new neighbors.

* CallBack:
** Kevin, one of Michèle's employees who she hired to investigate the person behind the rape animation with her face, discovered a crush video of a woman stomping on roaches. Which refers back to the propaganda scene of children stomping on roaches in Film/StarshipTroopers.

''Elle'' is a 2016 [[FrenchFilms French]] thriller written by David Birke and [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] a novel by Philippe Djian. It was directed by Creator/PaulVerhoeven.

Michèle (Creator/IsabelleHuppert), founder of a successful video game company, is raped at her home by an unknown assailant. [[PoliceAreUseless Events from her past make her wary of police]]. Instead of reporting the incident to the authorities, she tries to discover the identity of her rapist on her own.

''Elle'' is a 2016 [[FrenchFilms French]] thriller written by David Birke and based on a novel by Philippe Djian. It was directed by Creator/PaulVerhoeven.

* AnAxeToGrind: Michèle buys one for protection.

* RealityEnsues: After the rape, Michèle shows some behavior common to rape victims in real life: emotional numbness, flashbacks to it from similar objects and being in the same space, and imagining what would have happened if she had fought back.
** The rapist's later taunts via anonymous texts and his visit to the house [[spoiler:where he leaves semen all over Michèle's bed and a message on her laptop saying he couldn't help himself]] are also similar to things done by real rapists.

* YourCheatingHeart: Hoo boy:
** Robert, who is married to Anna, has an affair with Michèle.
** [[spoiler:Later taken to a darker extreme with Patrick cheating on Rebecca with Michèle.]]
** [[spoiler: Josie has a ChocolateBaby with Vincent's friend Omar.]]

Michèle (Isabelle Huppert), founder of a successful video game company, is raped at her home by an unknown assailant. [[PoliceAreUseless Events from her past make her wary of police]]. Instead of reporting the incident to the authorities, she tries to discover the identity of her rapist on her own.

* ButtMonkey: Michèle's ex-husband, Richard, is an alcoholic and a struggling writer. The first misfortune he received was getting his car's bumper broken by Michèle, then his girlfriend's car's front window shattered and he gets pepper-sprayed by Michèle. Later in the film, [[spoiler: it is implied that his girlfriend broke up with him.]]

* NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization: Deconstructed ''hard'', actually more like ''problematized'' [[spoiler:due to the rapist turning out to be Patrick, whom Michèle has developed a crush on and attempted to seduce ''before'' she learns he's the rapist]].

* DinnerAndAShow: The dinner party Michèle hosts for her friends and family goes south when her mother announces she's engaged again, to Michèle's displeasure.

* HomageShot: The final shot of the film suggests ''Film/Casablanca''.

** During which, we also learn, Michèle's father massacred the nieghborhood.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Michèle is a very slight version of this trope toward Hélène, Richard's girlfriend. While she's quite cordial to her in person, when Hélène comes over to her house for the party Michèle secretly plants a toothpick in a snack to be given to her.

** The rapist's taunts via anonymous texts and his visit to the house [[spoiler:where he leaves semen all over Michèle's bed and a message on her laptop saying he couldn't help himself]] are also similar to things done by real rapists.