Movie Reviews by Michael Phillips

A Girl Cut in Two Movie Review & Trailer
"A Girl Cut in Two"

Claude Chabrol, who has directed feature films for over 50 years, has enough of an ego to make the famous novelist at the center of his pungent and altogether delicious black comedy "A Girl Cut in Two" irresistible to women.

"The bastard hasn't lost it," marvels his publisher, played as a purring, all-knowing observer -- with an undisclosed amount of inside knowledge -- by Mathilda May.

Chabrol hasn't lost it either.

This Lyon, France-set tale of a TV weather girl and two wolfish suitors is a cool marvel of tone, acted about as well as it possibly could be.

"A Girl Cut in Two" isn't a mystery by narrative definition, yet Chabrol's longtime mastery of the mystery genre comes in very handy as he sets up his characters like figures in a boulevard comedy, only to reveal their darker impulses gradually, in surprising little splinters.

The technique is deft, crisp and confident, backed by a wry musical score written by Chabrol's son, Matthieu.

And if you choose to watch "A Girl Cut in Two" primarily as an affair between an emotionally dodgy man and a woman nearly 30 years his junior, it's a lot more interesting and, in its chilly way, honest, than "Elegy."

Gabrielle Deneige is the weather girl, whose last name translates to snow -- "a predestined name," as one of her admiring colleagues comments.

As played by Ludivine Sagnier, she lives in a seemingly happy fog of perpetual male attention. One night she meets the novelist, Charles, played by Francois Berleand. Soon he finds himself at the TV studio appearing on a vapid interview program. An affair blossoms, though the novelist wants to keep things neatly compartmentalized, so that life in the French countryside with his wife -- "a saint," as he keeps telling her, and everyone else -- and his friend/publisher/question mark continues as usual.

Chabrol and co-writer Cecile Maistre introduce their array of characters with fabulous swiftness and economy.

Gabrielle has another dog on her trail, the louche, hilariously smug mama's boy Paul (Benoit Magimel), who comes from money and whose jealousy knows no bounds. Chabrol based "A Girl Cut in Two" loosely on the early 20th century love triangle of Stanford White, Evelyn Nesbit and Harry K. Thaw, and that's all we should say about that.

Berleand conveys so much while expending so little: You see the charm and the calculation as well as the vague childish streak in every maneuver.

Sagnier, who caught the eyes of millions in "The Swimming Pool," is playing a symbol of unformed, enticing young adulthood more than a three-dimensional character, yet a rounded and affecting characterization emerges.

The sex throughout "A Girl Cut in Two" is discreet, and in the end we're confronted with one sort of depravity (having to do with a scandal in Paul's past) versus another (Charles' penchant for sex clubs). In facile terms, the movie links the two male leads with a mention of sexual molestation at the hands of authority figures in their respective pasts.

Chabrol taps that notion into place, and moves on. Spectacularly assured, "A Girl Cut in Two" keeps you off-balance as it establishes a world where every conversation is a flirtation, and trouble and heartbreak sneak in on little cat feet when no one's looking.

A Girl Cut in Two

Film Critic Rating: 3.5 out of 4 Stars

No MPAA rating (parents cautioned for sexuality and some violence)

Running time: 1:50

Starring: Ludivine Sagnier (Gabrielle); Francois Berleand (Charles); Benoit Magimel (Paul); Mathilda May (Capucine); Valeria Cavalli (Dona)

Directed by: Claude Chabrol; written by Chabrol and Cecile Maistre; photographed by Eduardo Serra; edited by Monique Fardoulis; music by Matthieu Chabrol; produced by Patrick Godeau.

An IFC Films release. In French with English subtitles.

A Girl Cut in Two Movie Trailer

 

About "A Girl Cut in Two" the Movie

Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier of SWIMMING POOL) is an independent, ambitious TV weather girl torn between her love of a distinguished author several decades her senior (Francois Berleand), and the attentions of a headstrong, potentially unstable young suitor (Benoit Magimel). An unspoken past between the two men heightens tensions, and though she's initially certain of her love for one them, the see-saw demands and whims of both men keep confusing - and darkening - matters. Before long she's encountering emotional and societal forces well beyond her control, inexorably leading to a shocking clash of violence and passion.

Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) has a high profile job presenting the weather on French TV. Despite Gabrielle's staunch work ethic however, she values her privacy over her professional career and lives in a modest house with her ageing mother (Marie Bunel).

One day, renowned author Charles Saint-Denis (Francois Berleand) is interviewed at the television station where Gabrielle works, and the two feel an instant, powerful connection. Later, at a book signing, the pair continues to flirt despite the presence of a spoiled, ultra-rich, pharmaceutical heir, Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel) -- who openly despises the writer and longs to claim Gabrielle as his own.

Despite the fact that Charles is still happily married to his wife of twenty-five years (Valeria Cavalli), with whom he shares a home in a posh ultra-modern estate in the countryside, he and Gabrielle share an intimate afternoon at the author's nearby pied-a-terre. Later, as the potentially psychotic Paul steps up his pursuit of Gabrielle, the young woman begins to question the purity of intention of either of her suitors.

"A Girl Cut in Two" Starring Ludivine Sagnier, Francois Berleand, Benoit Magimel, Mathilda May, Valeria Cavalli

Movies & Movie Reviews: A Girl Cut in Two