loading...
In The Cut
2003
The acclaimed New Zealand director Jane Campion (THE PIANO) here turns her unusual artistic eye toward the urban erotic thriller genre. Based on the novel by Susanna Moore, IN THE CUT tells the story of Frannie (Meg Ryan) an English teacher living in Manhattan's East Village who finds herself mixed up in a homicide .. Read more
| Starring | Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon |
|---|---|
| Director | Jane Campion |
| Genres | Thriller |
loading...
In The Cut
The acclaimed New Zealand director Jane Campion (THE PIANO) here turns her unusual artistic eye toward the urban erotic thriller genre. Based on the novel by Susanna Moore, IN THE CUT tells the story of Frannie (Meg Ryan) an English teacher living in Manhattan's East Village who finds herself mixed up in a homicide investigation after a severed head turns up in her garden. Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sexually unhinged half-sister and Mark Ruffalo plays a homicide detective on the case who falls into bed with Frannie after she's attacked on the Lower East Side. Suspects include her stalker ex-lover (Kevin Bacon) and a troubled student (Sharrieff Pugh) who's obsessed with serial killer John Wayne Gacy. As the body count rises however, Frannie realises that the prime suspect just may be the very cop in her bed.
If this all sounds like a by-the-numbers sex crime thriller don't worry; Campion twists the genre towards her own ends, adding multi-layered focus, deeply saturated colours, a dream-like mood and copious amounts of feminist allegorical symbolism. Meg Ryan fans should be shocked by her performance here (replete with several nude scenes), which is a major departure from her usual cute characterisations. Nicole Kidman, who starred in Campion's PORTRAIT OF A LADY served as producer. Fans of that film, and Campion's work in general, should enjoy the perverse psychosexual theatrics on display in this grim urban fairy tale.
| Starring | Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon |
|---|---|
| Director | Jane Campion |
| Studio | PATHE DISTRIBUTION |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 52 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 01 Mar 2004 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Critics' reviews (4)
View all -
Susanna Moore's notoriously explicit novel gives director Jane Campion another opportunity to explore her favourite theme — the self-destructive elements of female desire. Meg Ryan stars as Frannie Avery, a New York teacher who falls for Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), a man who's all wrong for her, yet helps Avery to get in touch with herself and experience unknown pleasures. But Malloy is enigmatic if not dangerous — he's investigating a series of murders in her neighbourhood that he himself might have committed. And it's not only Ryan who's in trouble, but also her half-sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Campion's trademark off-kilter camerawork matches the increasingly skewed world view of her protagonist and Ryan is a revelation, albeit doing an impression of a fragile Nicole Kidman (who acts as producer and was originally going to star). Ultimately, the film works as a study of sexual longing but fails as a thriller. The plot mechanics are too obvious, the twist too predictable and the novel's original, searing ending has been changed. Despite the frank talk and naked bodies, this is just another Hollywood cop-out.
-
An often pedantic take on the serial killer genre, where even the women who don't end up dead are seen as victims of predatory men; Beebe's cinematography captures the seedy anxiety of its setting.
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
74 out of 99 people found this review helpful
More of an off-cut
Meg Ryan gets her kit off! Jane Campion directs a thriller! In the Cut is a lush romantic masterpiece! Which of these is actually true?
The answer is the first one. But while that may attract some viewers, let's just say that what is seen is no more or less than any other actress's nude scene in recent years, and that the sex scenes are about as erotic as watching the Tweenies. The thriller elements are sketchily observed and referred to, and Jane Campion seems more interested in showing us an apparently detached woman's trial by erotic fire.
Only it never convinces. It's too muddled. Scenes come and go without advancing the storyline, and the plot is standard thriller nonsense (a three year old could guess the killer's identity). Only Dion Beebe's amazing cinematography holds the interest throughout. The script by Campion and Susannah Moore (who wrote the original novel) meanders along and provides very little for an audience to latch onto. None of the characters are particularly likeable and by the film's end you don't care what happens to anyone, or how.
If you're a fan of Jane Campion's work - as I am - you'll come away from this scratching your head, wondering what happened. And if there's any crime involved with this movie, that'd be it. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
terrible
one of the worse films myself or my husband has ever seen.
-
News and features
View all
The Women
- 15 Sep 2008
You’ve got to admire their balls: a big, star-packed chick flick, and not a single male on screen (well, there is one, but you will have to wait for him to appear). It’s happened before. In 1939, George Cukor directed Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Paulette Goddard in an adaptation of the Clare Luce play written by Anita Loos and Jane Murfin. The remake is written and directed by Diane English (Murphy Brown), and stars Meg Ryan as Mary Haines, the last to know... Read more
-
More like this
View all
Related user collection
Personal Best (12)
87.6% from 4 members
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
-
-
-
In The Cut
The acclaimed New Zealand director Jane Campion (THE PIANO) here turns her unusual artistic eye toward the urban erotic thriller genre. Based on the novel by Susanna Moore, IN THE CUT tells the story of Frannie (Meg Ryan) an English teacher living in Manhattan's East Village who finds herself mixed ...
-