A Girl Cut in Two (2007)

Film Perfection

Best movie ever!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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.

1st watched 12/18/2011 – 4 out of 10(Dir-Claude Chabrol): Un-satisfying semi-romantic drama from France doesn't explore the characters enough to help the audience understand the decision-making of the main characters. The story revolves around a girl who starts the movie as a weather reporter for a local TV station, but isn't initially the central character. Initially, the central character is an older well-known author that seems to pretty much have his life together, although it seems a little ho-hum. He becomes attracted to the weather girl, and her to him and they become lovers. He's married and she's a younger single woman living with her mother. A spoiled rich kid then meets and becomes obsessed with the girl. She doesn't really show any interest in him, but after a spat with the author(and while he's on an extended business trip) – she marries the spoiled dude!! This was obviously not a good decision because she never really was attracted to him, but she either wanted the security or wanted to make the author jealous. The younger man turns out to be pretty loony and an incident involving him turns the whole story around. I won't give away what happened in case you want to watch the movie, but it makes the woman's life totally a bummer. So, this twisted love triangle of a movie where everyone makes pretty bad decisions -- should have been a little more revealing so the audience could understand their crazy decisions. Overall this made for a pretty bland and lifeless movie with unfortunately the best scene coming at the very end. That is never a good sign and it isn't with this one. Skip it unless you just what to read subtitles for an hour and a half.

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 (Francois Berleand) 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 Comedy of Power.

It takes a talented director and his collaborating screen writer to turn a typical American story into a bourgeois French drama with a different take on the same basic premise. That is what Claude Chabrol, and Cecile Maistre, who is also his step-daughter, accomplished with this film about obsession and lust that involves a an emotional triangle that one knows is doomed from the start.Gabrielle Deniege, a young television weather person in Lyon, seems to be enjoying herself; she has a promising career and from what one sees, she is the object of desire by her TV boss, who will, no doubt, push her to bigger things in exchange of sexual favors. Alas, Gabrielle has a mind of her own, but even she can't resist the advances of the much older Chales Saint-Denis, a writer she happens to meet at the store where her mother manages. Charles takes a shine to the young woman, who in turn is seduced by the idea of being with the older man.At the same time, the rich young heir of a pharmacy fortune, Paul Gaudens, appears at the same book signing session. He too, it seems, is impressed by young Gabrielle. He begins pursuing her, but little does he know Gabrielle is already involved with Saint-Denis. The older lover takes her to his secret apartment in the city, as well as introducing her to the naughty club he frequents. He has another thing in mind, as we shall learn later on. In the meantime, when the old man decides to go on a trip to England, he drops Gabrielle to fend for herself. Paul, seizes on the opportunity to show how much he cares by taking her to Lisbon, although their affair is, in a sense, a puritanical one. Since Gabrielle senses that Charles is out of the picture, she decides to marry Paul on the rebound. When Saint-Denis shows up again, it's already too late.This film that evidently was made for television shows a different Chabrol, a man who has made a career as a master of the suspense. Alas, there is not so much in this picture, but the viewer is hooked from the beginning of the story, as he knows there will be fireworks out of the elements at stake.The three principals, Ludivine Sagnier, Francois Berleand, and Benoit Magimel, that appear as the angles of the romantic trio, do fine work under Mr. Chabrol's direction. We particularly liked the work of Mr. Berleand, who gives us an excellent chance to enjoy his nuanced performance. Ms. Saigner keeps getting better all the time, and the same could be said about Mr. Magimel, a promising young actor who worked with the director in "La fleur du mal". Caroline Sihol, who is seen as Paul's mother, gives a touch of class as the rich and controlling society woman.Even a minor Chabrol is better than most of what comes out of France these days.