SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Manthast Absolutely amazing

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

morrison-dylan-fan Recently watching a superb double bill of François Truffaut works,I got in the mood to see a title from fellow French New Wave auteur Claude Chabrol. Finding her excellent in 8 Women and Love Crime,I was intrigued to find out that Ludivine Sagnier had cut a girl in two with Chabrol.View on the film:Becoming the man of Gabrielle's obsession, François Berléand gives a disappointing performance as Denis,which stands cold from Berléand offering neither swagger or passion to express how Denis becomes the centre of Gabrielle's attention. Playing on a romance where nothing is given in return, fit Ludivine Sagnier gives a very good performance as Gabrielle,with Sagnier trying to bring some passion between her and Berléand,along with swaying to catch the eyes of a rival would-be lover. "Unofficially" updating the ripped from the headlines Stanford White murder of 1906, the screenplay by co-writer/(with assistant director Cécile Maistre) director Claude Chabrol saws into the major theme across his work of the murderous self-absorbed state of the bourgeoisie, but misses cynical richness by stretching the run time to just under 2 hours,which leads to tension drying up,even when the girl is cut in two.

cs100 Romantic liaisons between younger women and older men aren't supposed to last. The initial impulse isn't supposed to last, the incompatibilities in age and lack of shared cultural experiences are supposed to prevent a deep bond from forming, and the censure of polite society is supposed to eventually cause the parties to sever their ties. Yet what if the initial impulse is deep enough, and various parties around the lovers are rash enough, to trigger effects which last for the lifetimes of both participants? This is the intriguing scenario explored by director/writer Claude Chabrol (assisted by writer Cecile Maistre) in "A Girl Cut in Two".The "May" of the romance is a young on-air television personality wonderfully played by Ludivine Sagnier, who in this film is the embodiment of the expression "a breath of fresh air". The "September" of the romance is an aging author and intellectual capably portrayed by Francois Berleand. Sagnier manages to demonstrate some believable longing and chemistry towards Berleand, even though their scenes together are not explicit (Sagnier fans will see a lot more of her, so to speak, in the film "Swimming Pool"). Unfortunately for our lovers, not only is Berleand's character married as well as fussed over by a publicity agent (played by Mathilda May) with whom he is also dallying on the side, but Sagnier's character is the desired object of affection of a brash, spoiled young heir played by Benoit Magimel. This combustible mix eventually explodes, as it must."A Girl Cut in Two" is a very French film, and will appeal to those seeking an immersion in French culture, society, and morals. The setting is not Paris but rather the smaller southern French city of Lyon, which is beautifully captured on film. But the most intriguing aspect of the film is Berleand's character, and what his many actions and deceptions say about French society and morals in the early 21st century. Berleand's character, although he is exalted for the truths contained in his writings, invents different "truths" to suit his circumstances, and eventually pays a price for doing so.Ludivine Sagnier fans who appreciate her for more than just the charms of her beauty and body will enjoy "A Girl Cut in Two", as will those seeking a thought provoking film about upper-crust French society.

dbdumonteil The two most honest comments on this Chabrol's poor effort are by Writers Reign's and Hcaruso's.But to be honest is not rewarding cause their insightful essays were mostly deemed "non useful".To write that "La Fille Coupée En Deux" is a near scene -for- scene ripoff is to state the obvious:the great Richard Fleischer's "the girl on the red velvet swing"(1955) had already told the story in a much better way.People who dismiss the two comments I mention above should watch it,then decide if they are wrong.I was in my car in the summer of 2007 when I heard a Chabrol interview on the radio.He was savoring Foie Gras on toast while talking about his new movie.He did not mention Richard Fleischer although in an American interview (reproduced by Jdcopp) he said he knew and he liked the movie:but he certainly thought that the French audience was not learned enough to know the American director or maybe he wanted to avoid any comparison.For that matter,he was right.Chabrol has been making movies for years ,and I have probably seen more of his works than any other French director,with the exception of Julien Duvivier.To think that around 1970,he was my favorite FRench director;at the time ,his actors were the Creme De LA Creme :Michel Bouquet,Stephane Audran,Jean Yanne,Michel Piccoli...Not that FRançois Berléand is a bad actor:he's simply not handsome enough to portray this greybeard -whereas James Mason...- :it takes a lot of imagination to believe that Ludivine Seignier is crazy about him.I have never liked Benoit Magimel who anyway is miscast as a playboy (Farley Granger he is absolutely not).It's supporting actress Caroline Sihol who saves the end of the movie with her terrifying portrayal of an over possessive mother who tells the heroine she is not one of them ,that is to say one of the bourgeoisie ,Chabrol's favorite target: this is the only Chabrolesque touch ,which reminds me of "La Rupture" (1970) in which Stephane Audran was an intruder too .As for the two final scenes (Chabrol's and Fleischer's),Joan Collins swinging to the moon is much more memorable than Chabrol's equivalent ,which also steals the "show " idea from the 1955 work.To make the heroine a weather girl is not a good idea either ,for ,in France ,these persons are often looked upon as "stars" , whereas Fleischer's babe was a music hall dancer,not an honorable job at the time .Chabrol's passion for gastronomy which shows in ALL his movies is here more present than ever.They do not stop eating or drinking champagne except when they make love,drive or kill.And even....

jdesando "The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young." Oscar WildeI'm cut in two myself: wanting A Girl Cut in Two to be a companion piece to Patrice Leconte's unforgettable Girl on the Bridge (1999) and yet realizing it is wrong to expect such a complement. French icon Claude Chabrol's Girl Cut is an amusing and agonizing romance between an older writer and a young TV weather girl, about 30 years in between their ages. The story of the lost young woman and her older carnival knife thrower in Girl on a Bridge has layers of emotion where Girl Split contains little depth but the same type of metaphors.Girl Cut recycles the January-May love affair, similar to the recent Elegy about a young woman and an older professor. The immediate attraction between the two is not explored, just the girl's voluptuousness and his pot-belly, receding hair, and low energy level. But then I should not forget the ultimate aphrodisiac: intellectualism. The common denominator is the mind meld, enacted by an aging thinker/artist and a young open mind.The figurative splitting is woven into the plot: A spoiled, rich young man, Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel), falls for an indifferent Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier), who has a yearning for the older writer Charles Saint-Denis (Francoise Berleand). The triangle illustrates the complex yearnings of an attractive young woman, whose mother (Marie Bunel) spies Gabrielle's need for the father figure as well as her own wish for her daughter to be financially comfortable. The warfare among the classes is typically Francaise.As for Gabrielle, it is never clear where her love for the old man comes from, for she never seems to read his works, and their interaction before the first tryst is superficial. Perhaps she has a thing for big bellies and bald pates.