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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Girl Cut in Two, A

EMAILPRINTIFC Films

Girl Cut in Two, A reviews
73
5.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

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

Summary

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)

What The Critics Said

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.

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90

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.

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88

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.

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88

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.

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88

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.

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83

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Sagnier is yummy.

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75

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

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

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

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

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75

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.

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75

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

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

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75

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.

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75

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.

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70

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.

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70

Variety Lisa Nesselson

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

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70

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.

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70

Washington Post John Anderson

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

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67

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).

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60

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.

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60

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.

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60

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.

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40

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Velvety storytelling still feels more thawed-out than heated.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 7 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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