Isabelle Huppert

The Piano Teacher (2001) and Elle (2016) offer two demanding introductions to Huppert's French-language work. Both place a difficult, guarded woman at the centre, while leaving the viewer room to question what her reactions mean. Her long collaborations with directors such as Claude Chabrol and Michael Haneke are the career thread worth following. The attraction is her precision and resistance to easy explanations; both starting films involve disturbing sexual themes.