The pundits mostly said the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama this year was Natalie Portman’s to lose. And she certainly gave an impressive performance as the former First Lady in Jackie. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association doesn’t listen to the pundits. (I guess they sort of are pundits, in a way.) And they went in a different direction, picking Isabelle Huppert as their Best Actress (drama division) for 2016.

It was a surprise. Huppert’s work in Elle is incredible, but it’s not exactly accessible in the traditional sense. Huppert plays a woman who is raped, and then responds to her attack in unusual ways, eventually luring her attacker into a complex relationship. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, the man who gave us Total Recall and ShowgirlsElle is a strange movie, and the reaction to it from some circles has been conflicted (though it did make the top ten lists of both of my ScreenCrush colleagues, Britt Hayes and Erin Whitney).

Huppert and Elle seem like an Oscar long shot, but there’s no denying the momentum on their side right now. (Just last week, I watched Huppert collect the New York Film Critics Circle’s Best Actress award for the same performance.) Before tonight, I thought Huppert might not even get an Oscar nomination. Now? It looks a little more likely.

Get more of our 2017 Golden Globes coverage here, and the full list of tonight’s winners right here.

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