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A TV weather girl (Ludivine Sagnier) is caught in the middle when a spoiled playboy (Benoît Magimel) and a famous author (François Berléand) compete for her affections.
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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: French ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Interactive Menu, Scene Access, Trailer(s), SYNOPSIS: 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. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Venice Film Festival, ...The Girl Cut in Two ( La fille coupée en deux ) ( Die zweigeteilte Frau )
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Chabrol's latest...all about sex, possession, ego...and satisfyingly pleasant retribution
4 July 2009
Format:DVD
Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) is blonde, friendly, smart but not shrewd or sophisticated. She's a weather presenter on a local television station. Her mother manages a bookstore. Charles Saint-Denis is a famous man of letters, winner of the Prix Goncourt. He's three decades her senior, wealthy, charming, aging and a rake. His wife loves him. Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel) is spoiled, arrogant, the young heir to the Gaudens chemical millions and seems to need a keeper to smooth over the trouble he causes for others and himself. His father is dead. His mother is elegant and icy. Both men become fixated on Gabrielle. Saint-Dennis, because she gives him youth and sex, because she is a malleable bit of female clay he can instruct in the worldly ways of sexual dissolution. Gaudens, because she doesn't fall over for him, yet treats him as the attractive man he thinks himself to be. Both men detest each other. Both would be fine catches for any ambitious young woman. Please note that elements of the plot are discussed..
Gabrielle falls in love with Saint-Denis, and is even willing to climb the carved, wooden, circular staircase with him in the elegant rake's club he takes her to, introducing her to his fellow aging, wealthy libertines. Charles wants her, has her, then doesn't want the entanglements, then wants her, then doesn't want the bother of leaving his wife, then wants her. Paul wants her, is furious with Charles for having her, wants her, wants her, wants her. And Gabrielle? The best description of her situation comes from Roger Ebert: "The three central characters are in an emotional fencing match, and Gabrielle lacks a mask." That she survives, and don't ask about the other two, makes a fine story that has not a trace of melodrama. We see what's going on, how the characters change, how Gabrielle changes, with all the usual impending unease that Claude Chabrol brings to his films. We know Gabrielle's situation cannot continue, but Chabrol keeps us guessing about his intentions and her fate. Towards the end, I was almost sure we were going to have one of those sad and ambiguous endings that usually drive me crazy. Then Chabrol wraps up his story about Gabrielle, the girl cut in two, with a final set-up that is amusing and satisfying, and a little surreal.
Chabrol has given us a fine movie. He's 78 now, and is a wonder. For those who may be fond of Ludivine Sagnier, three movies come to mind to show her range (not to mention her body): 8 Women, where at 23 she plays a pig-tailed tomboy about 15; Swimming Pool, where a year later she plays a sex pot given to nude swims; and this one. For Francois Berleand, compare his self-assurance here with the high-ranking official Isabelle Huppert turns to sniveling impotence in Chabrol's cynical and satisfying A Comedy of Power.
Gabrielle falls in love with Saint-Denis, and is even willing to climb the carved, wooden, circular staircase with him in the elegant rake's club he takes her to, introducing her to his fellow aging, wealthy libertines. Charles wants her, has her, then doesn't want the entanglements, then wants her, then doesn't want the bother of leaving his wife, then wants her. Paul wants her, is furious with Charles for having her, wants her, wants her, wants her. And Gabrielle? The best description of her situation comes from Roger Ebert: "The three central characters are in an emotional fencing match, and Gabrielle lacks a mask." That she survives, and don't ask about the other two, makes a fine story that has not a trace of melodrama. We see what's going on, how the characters change, how Gabrielle changes, with all the usual impending unease that Claude Chabrol brings to his films. We know Gabrielle's situation cannot continue, but Chabrol keeps us guessing about his intentions and her fate. Towards the end, I was almost sure we were going to have one of those sad and ambiguous endings that usually drive me crazy. Then Chabrol wraps up his story about Gabrielle, the girl cut in two, with a final set-up that is amusing and satisfying, and a little surreal.
Chabrol has given us a fine movie. He's 78 now, and is a wonder. For those who may be fond of Ludivine Sagnier, three movies come to mind to show her range (not to mention her body): 8 Women, where at 23 she plays a pig-tailed tomboy about 15; Swimming Pool, where a year later she plays a sex pot given to nude swims; and this one. For Francois Berleand, compare his self-assurance here with the high-ranking official Isabelle Huppert turns to sniveling impotence in Chabrol's cynical and satisfying A Comedy of Power.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the late Claude Chabrol's second last film, I think. I am still to see the last, 'Bellamy', but this one was interesting to me as I thought the pessimistic, cynical view he had of human nature as a whole really came through, perhaps a little too much. No pleasant characters, and no real redemption or glimpses of happiness (as opposed to pleasure).
The plot is fairly silly, Ludivine Sagnier's weather girl torn between two admirers - but the reason to watch this film, really, is for the sheer style and gloss of the filmmaking. Chabrol was never dull, and while it may be a claim of style over substance, this film is visually superb throughout. He had perhaps drifted from his Hitchcockian best with his last few films, which were less plot and tension based and more blackly humorous, but he always kept his beady, mocking eyes on the bad behaviour of the well-heeled, self satisfied French middle classes. Throughout his career from the 1950s onwards, he has almost always included scenes of people eating (or feasting) as a kind of trademark, but in a way which always fits his film and topic. Nice to see that once again here, for (almost) the final time.
I cannot agree with the people who have given 'The Girl Cut in Two' one star reviews here on amazon - if nothing else, this film is original, ravishing to look at, brilliantly photographed and thought provoking. Not Chabrol at his best, but still not a film I would have wanted to miss.
The plot is fairly silly, Ludivine Sagnier's weather girl torn between two admirers - but the reason to watch this film, really, is for the sheer style and gloss of the filmmaking. Chabrol was never dull, and while it may be a claim of style over substance, this film is visually superb throughout. He had perhaps drifted from his Hitchcockian best with his last few films, which were less plot and tension based and more blackly humorous, but he always kept his beady, mocking eyes on the bad behaviour of the well-heeled, self satisfied French middle classes. Throughout his career from the 1950s onwards, he has almost always included scenes of people eating (or feasting) as a kind of trademark, but in a way which always fits his film and topic. Nice to see that once again here, for (almost) the final time.
I cannot agree with the people who have given 'The Girl Cut in Two' one star reviews here on amazon - if nothing else, this film is original, ravishing to look at, brilliantly photographed and thought provoking. Not Chabrol at his best, but still not a film I would have wanted to miss.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
**** spoilers ****
The Girl Cut in Two is a well constructed and competently acted psychological twist on the old love triangle theme. It explores areas of debauched decadence (OK I suppose you could call it sordid) but in a surprisingly coy manner. The love scenes do not stray much beyond a 12 rating (although I'd like to know exactly WHAT she was getting up to under the covers!), the group sex is intimated rather than displayed and even the players' language is restrained - nothing more then the occasional 'merde' or 'seigneur!". At a soupçon under two hours it does plod at times, but there is just enough intrigue and gradual gathering of momentum to maintain the interest. It cumulates in one moment of mildly shocking violence, followed by its sobering consequences, as the film fades away. The final scene is quite amusing, but hammers the titular metaphor home with a deliberate lack of subtlety!
So why just the three stars? Well, with the exception of the sympathetic gravel-voiced uncle, all the characters are just so downright unlikeable! Charles Saint-Denis, played convincingly by François Berléand, is a somewhat charismatic but utterly selfish and depraved old reprobate, whereas spoilt little rich boy Paul Gaudens is impossibly arrogant and loathsome. Our heroine (that is SO the wrong word) Gabrielle comes over as a chavvy and egotistical gold-digger. Even the minor players are rather unengaging. Gabrielle's mother is weak and has an impossible laissez faire attitude to her daughter's disastrous relationships. Gabrielle's creepy colleague has all the charm of a dead fish as he attempts to flirt clumsily with her. Gaudens' mother is cold and dispassionate (although she does recognise the doomed nature of the relationship). OK so the plot is that Gabrielle falls for Saint-Denis but, after being unceremoniously dumped after the old letch has had his fun, decides to make do with Gaudens. Of course it is doomed to failure, as Gaudens all-consuming jealousy leads to inevitable tragedy.
So there we have it. Undeniably well-made, a visual treat and mildly intriguing but, I guess I'm just not sophisticated enough to REALLY enjoy a movie in which I care little about any of the characters.
The Girl Cut in Two is a well constructed and competently acted psychological twist on the old love triangle theme. It explores areas of debauched decadence (OK I suppose you could call it sordid) but in a surprisingly coy manner. The love scenes do not stray much beyond a 12 rating (although I'd like to know exactly WHAT she was getting up to under the covers!), the group sex is intimated rather than displayed and even the players' language is restrained - nothing more then the occasional 'merde' or 'seigneur!". At a soupçon under two hours it does plod at times, but there is just enough intrigue and gradual gathering of momentum to maintain the interest. It cumulates in one moment of mildly shocking violence, followed by its sobering consequences, as the film fades away. The final scene is quite amusing, but hammers the titular metaphor home with a deliberate lack of subtlety!
So why just the three stars? Well, with the exception of the sympathetic gravel-voiced uncle, all the characters are just so downright unlikeable! Charles Saint-Denis, played convincingly by François Berléand, is a somewhat charismatic but utterly selfish and depraved old reprobate, whereas spoilt little rich boy Paul Gaudens is impossibly arrogant and loathsome. Our heroine (that is SO the wrong word) Gabrielle comes over as a chavvy and egotistical gold-digger. Even the minor players are rather unengaging. Gabrielle's mother is weak and has an impossible laissez faire attitude to her daughter's disastrous relationships. Gabrielle's creepy colleague has all the charm of a dead fish as he attempts to flirt clumsily with her. Gaudens' mother is cold and dispassionate (although she does recognise the doomed nature of the relationship). OK so the plot is that Gabrielle falls for Saint-Denis but, after being unceremoniously dumped after the old letch has had his fun, decides to make do with Gaudens. Of course it is doomed to failure, as Gaudens all-consuming jealousy leads to inevitable tragedy.
So there we have it. Undeniably well-made, a visual treat and mildly intriguing but, I guess I'm just not sophisticated enough to REALLY enjoy a movie in which I care little about any of the characters.
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