The Conversation

'Rape can set you free': Po-mo critics of Elle still hooked on cliches of transgression

Author: Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Centre For Applied Philosophy & Public Ethics (CAPPE), Charles Sturt University

Huppert as Michelle in Elle

How are we to understand the rapturous reception leading film critics have given to Paul Verhoeven’s “rape comedy” Elle? The bad boy director, they tell us, “dares us to judge”, “explodes conventions”, “pushes buttons” and “subverts myths”. The judgement,...

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