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Girl Cut in Two, A
IFC Films


5.3

based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Ludivine Sagnier, Benoit Magimel, Francois Berleand, Charley Fouquet, Caroline Silhol, and Edouard Baer

Gabrielle Deneige is an independent, ambitious TV weather girl torn between her love of a distinguished author several decades her senior, and the attentions of a headstrong, potentially unstable young suitor. 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. Inspired by the sensational Gilded Age murder of Madison Square Garden architect Stanford White, A Girl Cut in Two is trademark Chabrol: fiendishly entertaining and impossible to shake. (IFC Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Cécile Maistre Claude Chabrol
DIRECTED BY:	Claude Chabrol
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: August 15, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	115 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Germany \| France
LANGUAGE(S):	French

Alternative Title: La fille coupée en deux

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Impeccably made and uncompromisingly adult, Claude Chabrol's A Girl Cut in Two is unquestionably the work of a master.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

An erotically charged, beautifully directed story of a woman preyed upon by different men and her own warring desires.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The plot was probably inspired by an actual event, which I will not mention because you may be familiar with it. In any event, Chabrol's insidious style is more absorbing than the plot, as it should be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A kind of deadpan soap opera - but one that, despite its high melodrama and wicked humor, delivers a real emotional wallop.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Sagnier is yummy.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

It's intriguing. To be honest, though, there is less to it all than meets the eye.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Would be worthy of the highest rating, except for a slight slackening of energy in the last 20 minutes.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Chabrol, who is often called the French Hitchcock because of his intricate thrillers, is approaching the big 8-0, yet he continues to do quality work, as shown by A Girl Cut in Two.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A dry, thoroughly modern reminder that while mores change, human nature doesn't.

Portland Oregonian Stan Hall

The symbolic ending may strike some as a letdown but it's well-played by Sagnier, capping another in a string of memorable performances.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Chabrol develops the inevitable confrontation between the two men like a car wreck in slow motion, and getting there takes a little more work than it should; the film takes the form of a thriller, but it doesn't have the pace of one.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Claude Chabrol's capacity to make shopworn material seem almost new is especially evident in this 2007 drama, which he cowrote with his stepdaughter, Cecile Maistre.

Variety Lisa Nesselson

While not a classic, this is a pleasantly disturbing, nominally voyeuristic romp in the territory Chabrol knows best.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A Girl Cut in Two is a spry piece of work. Chabrol uses this sinister clown show as a means to puncture the media world's hot-air balloons--as well as to highlight the hypocrisies of his favorite target, the haute bourgeoisie.

Washington Post John Anderson

For all its charisma, A Girl Cut in Two lacks a certain depth.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

A Girl Cut in Two is Hitchcock sans the whodunit, essentially a long preamble of seduction and spiritual ruin, capped by a crime everyone saw coming (and an eye-dazzling coda that twists the title from metaphor to … something else).

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

I can't help wishing that Chabrol would, just once, cast off his own good narrative manners--do away with the irritations of a film like A Girl Cut in Two, which is never more than semi-plausible, and arrange his passions, as the elderly Buñuel did in "That Obscure Object of Desire," into shameless, surreal anagrams of wit and lust.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Arguably, A Girl Cut in Two is more fun around the edges, as an assemblage of bizarre supporting characters and throwaway comic bits, than it is down the middle, as a classic French morality tale.

The Hollywood Reporter Bernard Besserglik

Its impact is weakened by a limp ending and a sense that it all adds up to rather less than the sum of its parts.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Velvety storytelling still feels more thawed-out than heated.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Bruce N. gave it a7:
It's hard to feel sorry for anyone in this tale of narcissism and betrayal. But it's got a certain perverse appeal...noone apologizes for their brutal behavior.

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Girl Cut in Two, A IFC Films

Girl Cut in Two, A
IFC Films