Isabelle Huppert, Elle

In a career that spans four decades and shows no sign of slowing down France’s Isabelle Huppert is now being tagged as "indestructible," not just for the variety and number of films but for her role in Paul Verhoeven’s provocative, disturbing, sometimes comic Elle, where her Michèle Leblanc a woman of stature and power is violently raped, not once, twice but thrice – and refuses to see herself as a victim. Elle is France’s official entry in the Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film and a campaign is being launched for Huppert to receive her first-ever Oscar nomination as Best Actress.

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