La Fille Coupée en Deux (The Girl Cut in Two) (A Girl Cut in Two) (2007)

74% of critics liked it
(84 reviews)
37% of users liked it
(2,594 ratings)

A television weatherwoman is pursued simultaneously by a spoiled pharmaceutical heir and a successful -- but much older -- writer in director Claude Chabrol's blackly comic tale of romance and class differences. Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) has a high-profile job detailing the forecast on… More A television weatherwoman is pursued simultaneously by a spoiled pharmaceutical heir and a successful -- but much older -- writer in director Claude Chabrol's blackly comic tale of romance and class differences. Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) has a high-profile job detailing the forecast on French TV. Yet despite Gabrielle's staunch work ethic, she values her privacy over her professional career and lives in a modest house with her aging mother (Marie Bunel). One day, renowned author Charles Saint-Denis (François Berléand) 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 entitled rich kid Paul Gaudens (Benoît 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 25 years (Valeria Cavalli), with whom he has set up home in a posh ultra-modern estate in the countryside, he and Gabrielle share an intimate afternoon at the author's nearby pied-à-terre. Later, as the potentially psychotic Paul steps up his pursuit of Gabrielle, the girl begins to question whether either of her suitors is pure in his intentions. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 54 min.
Directed By: Claude Chabrol
Written By: Claude Chabrol, Cécile Maistre
Genres: Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

In Theaters: Aug 14, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jan 1, 2009
Studio: IFC First Take

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Claude Chabrol's capacity to make shopworn material seem almost new is especially evident in this 2007 drama.
Lisa Nesselson, Variety
While not a classic, this is a pleasantly disturbing, nominally voyeuristic romp in the territory Chabrol knows best.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Spectacularly assured, A Girl Cut in Two 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.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Chabrol is a past master at visual storytelling and a stiletto wit.
John Anderson, Washington Post
Although a minor work by Chabrol, it would be a major work by most directors, and one that's still fascinating even in its flaws.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
A cool study of erotic longing, misguided love and class warfare in the civilized spheres of French society, Claude Chabrol's A Girl Cut in Two, despite its high melodrama and wicked humor, delivers a real emotional wallop.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Another patented Chabrol commentary, not a morality play but something far more worldly and difficult to ignore.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Chabrol's astute dissection of sex, class and show business. Bravo, Claude, a rare man in profound touch with the darker impulses of his species.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Chabrol's astute dissection of sex, class and show business. Bravo, Claude, a rare man in profound touch with the darker impulses of his species.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It's not fresh material, but in the hands of a master like Chabrol it appears like a fresh breeze.
Amber Wilkinson, Eye for Film
Talk is everything, with action hinted at the edges, as Chabrol's camera sidles off to look at a casually thrown book, or skates away from anything salacious.
Cosmo Landesman, Times [UK]
Though the performances are all first-rate, the film is let down by weak characterisation. Still, it's enjoyable, if not exceptional.
Philip French, Observer [UK]
This description may make this movie sound much more interesting than it is.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
One's final impression is that aging legends make unreliable puppet-masters. And that it's all too easy for a desirable young actress to be left dangling in mid-air.
Allan Hunter, Daily Express
The relationships are never completely convincing and there are too many unresolved questions to create an entirely satisfying tale.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
This is one of Chabrol's most elegant, acerbic and heartfelt entertainments in years.
Anton Bitel, Film4
Too cold and cynical to be truly enjoyed but the old dog still has a few new tricks up his sleeve.
Ed Potton, Times [UK]
The performances drip with cliché, while the narrative is all over the place: plot developments are either clumsily telegraphed or given the flimsiest of dramatic explanation.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
With elegance and despatch, veteran new wave master Claude Chabrol has brought off his most enjoyable film for some time.
Matt Bochenski, Little White Lies
Chabrol may be one of the great survivors of the New Wave, but this is an old man's film.

Read all 25 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lewis C

I'll be honest, I only watched The Girl Cut in Two because I think Ludivine Sagnier is a Class A hottie. So it's probably not a shock that I was underwhelmed by it. It's a rather French movie about a woman (Sagnier) who is pursued by two men, a young and emotionally… More
I'll be honest, I only watched The Girl Cut in Two because I think Ludivine Sagnier is a Class A hottie. So it's probably not a shock that I was underwhelmed by it. It's a rather French movie about a woman (Sagnier) who is pursued by two men, a young and emotionally volatile rich man, and an older married writer. Both men are ultimately bad options, and the movie quickly changes from something of a charming romantic film to something much darker in tone. It could be called "a movie cut in two", if a person wanted to be clever (which I do). Anyway, neither half of the movie was particularly good, in my opinion. The narrative tended to wander, Sagnier's character seemed silly and unsympathetic with little explanation of why, and the other characters were almost universally unlikable or uninteresting. Combine all that with the odd (and not in a compelling way) ending, and The Girl Cut in Two becomes a movie that I probably wouldn't recommend.
Elvira B

A thriller inspired by the infamous, murderous New York love triangle between Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Thaw and Stanford White. The story takes place in modern-day France: Ludivine Saigner plays the lead, a lovely weather girl, Francois Berleand is the famous, aging writer who begins an… More
A thriller inspired by the infamous, murderous New York love triangle between Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Thaw and Stanford White. The story takes place in modern-day France: Ludivine Saigner plays the lead, a lovely weather girl, Francois Berleand is the famous, aging writer who begins an affair with her, and Benoit Magimel is the psychologically unstable -young-millionaire who wants to marry her. These superbly-written and overall unpleasant characters drift between the evil and the ingenue with slyness. Selfishness and immorality abound, everyone takes advantage of everyone, and approches everyone for reasons very different from love. So all in all, as I watched, I knew all three characters were bound for something tragic. Chabrol is a skilled, competent filmmaker, and his film never falls flat, never bores, it keeps a steady pace and a consistent veil of suspense and uncertainty. To put it simply, it is a regular Hitchcock, with less censorship limitations. While it isn't an extraordinary film it is a good thriller with some black comedy moments. And what's best, it is a non-cop thriller; therefore it has less opportunities to be commonplace, and less pressure put on a typical police figure. All the interaction within La fille coupée... takes place in a very (un)civic and unlawful context in which unbridled sexual and emotional promiscuity thrives, not just between the members of the "love" triangle but between them and their immediate surroundings. Everyone in this film very much wants to be uncompromisingly seduced and is more than willing to dispose after using. So, there's not much left to say... a thriller about bad things that happen to people of questionable morale (there are no bad guys here!)
William D

[size=3]Another French film about erotic obsession. Quelle surprise! "A Girl Cut in Two," by the nearly 80-year-old director [b]Claude Chabrol[/b], is the one-hundred-millionth French film about sexual passion run amok. How is it that the French can still stomach their… More
[size=3]Another French film about erotic obsession. Quelle surprise! "A Girl Cut in Two," by the nearly 80-year-old director [b]Claude Chabrol[/b], is the one-hundred-millionth French film about sexual passion run amok. How is it that the French can still stomach their national cinema when the same theme is repeated over and over ad nauseam? [/size] [img]http://www.thereeler.com/images/girl_cut_500.jpg[/img] [size=3]Once again a delectable young French woman (this time played by the talented [b]Ludivine Sagnier[/b]) is caught in an erotic triangle. One of the men is a highly educated sixtysomething literary author, played reasonably well by [b]Francois Berleand[/b]. (The French seem to have a law requiring that every film have at least one literary writer in it.) [/size] [size=3][/size] [size=3]The other man, happily, is a character not seen every day in French cinema. He is a spoiled, somewhat deranged aristocrat. In the hands of actor [b]Benoit Magimel[/b], he is fun to watch. [/size][size=3]But his absurdly effete haircut (see photo below) is one of the all-time worst hair designs in the history of French cinema. He looks like he gets put together each day by the worst drag queen in Paris. And what's horrendous is that the film takes his haircut seriously. No one in the film laughs at his hair, only the audience in the theater does.[/size] [img]http://z.about.com/d/worldfilm/1/7/g/x/fille2.jpg[/img] [still working on this] [img]http://z.about.com/d/worldfilm/1/7/l/x/fille7.jpg[/img]
Mark A

A most infuriating film by a famous director. Does Chabrol hate women as much as this indicates? Or is this some sort of Gallic humor that doesn't translate well? A young, somewhat naive woman, Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier) is pursued by two equally despicable characters. Charles… More
A most infuriating film by a famous director. Does Chabrol hate women as much as this indicates? Or is this some sort of Gallic humor that doesn't translate well? A young, somewhat naive woman, Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier) is pursued by two equally despicable characters. Charles (Francois Berleand) is a worldly, famous author who wins her heart and then uses and abuses her. Paul (Benoit Magimel) is a member of the idle rich, a spoiled brat intent on getting his way, no matter what. That Gabrielle was forced to choose either of these losers and suffer greatly no matter which way she chose did not fit with her image as a successful TV journalist on the way up. This is France. This is Paris. Either choose to show us the depravity, or give us hearts and flowers. This was totally unacceptable, as Chabrol gave us neither. He also chose to give us no one with whom the audience could identify or view with any sympathy. Beautiful scenery and fine acting. The craft is unmistakable. For that, I give it three stars. This viewer just hated the story and what it says about this particular woman, and by extension, women in general.
Jeff T

Ridiculous. Which I'm pronoucing all French-y like. Merde.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "A Girl Cut in Two," Lyon is not big enough for Paul Gaudens(Benoit Magimel) and Charles Saint-Denis(Francois Berleand). Paul is the heir of a huge fortune and therefore feels the world should be his to do with as he pleases but it is not. A large… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "A Girl Cut in Two," Lyon is not big enough for Paul Gaudens(Benoit Magimel) and Charles Saint-Denis(Francois Berleand). Paul is the heir of a huge fortune and therefore feels the world should be his to do with as he pleases but it is not. A large part of that comes from his work ethic which is nonexistent. He just struts around town like a peacock. He loathes Charles, a famous writer, with a passion but Charles earns his money at least and manages to upstage the other man even though he is much older without even thinking about it.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]A chance meeting draws Charles and Gabrielle Deneige(Ludivine Sagnier), the local weatherperson, into the same circle. As luck would have it, Paul is also attracted to her but she only has eyes for Charles...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]As with most of Claude Chabrol's movies, "A Girl Cut in Two" about jealousy and envy is told in a straighforward fashion but in this case the approach does not really work. Either the movie goes on far too long(dragging on towards anticlimax) or most of the movie should have been scrapped, the epilogue extended and the story told through flashbacks, through which a compelling mystery could have been constructed. At least then the movie would have been about Gabrielle and not just the men. Speaking of which I find the character of Charles' wife curious. How much does she know about his womanizing? Is it an open marriage? This might explain Capucine's constant presence, in alluring outfits, no less.[/font]
Panta O

I have to say that I am fan of Claude Chabrol and that this movie wasn't his best... but that doesn't mean it was bad, because his standards are well above the average! The story revolves around two men who like a single young woman, local weather girl Gabrielle Deneige… More
I have to say that I am fan of Claude Chabrol and that this movie wasn't his best... but that doesn't mean it was bad, because his standards are well above the average! The story revolves around two men who like a single young woman, local weather girl Gabrielle Deneige (Snow). She lives with her mother, who works in a little bookstore. Charles Saint-Denis is a famed author who has just written a new book and he seems to hate the public eye and lives in the countryside of Lyon with his wife. At a party after a television interview about his new novel, Charles first spies the young Gabrielle and later, after a little flirting, he gives her a copy of his book and an invitation for her to attend an auction with him. She agrees... A young man, local socialite and rich "kid" Paul Gaudens, invites Gabrielle to dinner with him and she agrees... and the triangle of tragic people who will create tragic events starts at that moment... and the "wheels" never stoped turning! Very focused acting of François Berléand as Charles and very convincing Gabrielle played by Ludivine Sagnier under the secure directorship of Claude Chabrol made this movie very pleasant to watch and analyse! But the ending spoiled the enjoyment... it could be much better!
William G

French dark comedy/light thriller takes its time before going off in unexpected directions that bring multiple meanings to that title.
Lovable M

Great plot, but I think it could have been executed better.