Review - A Girl Cut In Two

A French TV weather girl is ripped between two men. A older man, a famous married author whom she loves but who won't leave his wife and the semi-deranged young heir to an industrial fortune who loves her. The TV weather girl struggles between both men only to choice one of them and the outcome is no way near what she expected.


This French Hitchcockian film directed by Claude Chabrol does it best job unfolding the love triangle between the two men and the woman they both desire. The story itself is intriguing and sultry while keeping the viewer questioning the TV weather girl's reasoning and decisions throughout. The dialogue in A Girl Cut In Two demands attention, being very strong, and causing further conversation after viewing the film. Chabrol in France, is considered a master of the mystery genre, and here in A Girl Cut In Two he does not disappoint. The film really has a sense of tension that is very faint at first but builds and smoothly develops into a rousing third act. A Girl Cut In Two is a sexy and thrilling story that has enough mystery and suspense, it keeps the viewer enthralled all the way through, ultimately leaving the viewer with a great conversational piece.

The entire cast of A Girl Cut In Two is very strong. Ludivine Sagnier (The Swimming Pool) plays the TV weather girl, Gabrielle Aurore Deneige and does a brillaint job of playing the cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films) who is torn between the two men. Her development in the film is central to her character and she does a near flawless job of protraying the wide-eyed weather girl. The esteemed French actor François Berléand plays Charles Saint-Denis, the famous author who doubles young Gabrielle in age, but is infatuated with her sex appeal and remarkable innocence. Charles who claims to be happily married, begins a love-affair with the young TV weather girl that is on own his terms, ultimately leaving Gabrielle at his beck and call. Just as Charles is infatuated with Gabrielle, she feels the same for him, thus why she allows him to control the affair. Benoît Magimel, who won Best Actor at Cannes in 2001 for his role in La Pianiste, plays Paul André Claude Gaudens the heir to an industrial fortune who is also obsessed with Gabrielle. Magimel's character is very odd and the viewer has a hard time at times understanding his motives. While Paul is obsessed with Gabrielle, he also has absolute malice for Charles leaving their torrid love triangle very intriguing. Magimel provides alot of comic relief to the mystery while at the same time defining a dark contempt for his rival in love for Gabrielle.

Overall A Girl Cut In Two is a well put together mystery that holds the viewers attention throughout while keeping them intrigued and fasinated with the twisted love triangle up to its hazardous ending. The cast and story pulls the viewer in and holds them with every twist and turn of the sultry affair. A Girl Cut In Two unfortunately has a choppy nature to the film which can jump three months at a time between scenes, which detracts from the film leaving the viewer confused at points. Overall, A Girl Cut In Two is a dark love traingle that has moments of brilliance and is sure to leave the viewer thinking about the finale for sometime after the viewing. I highly reccomend the film to any fan of Hitchcock or foreign films, but even a casual movie-goer will enjoy A Girl Cut In Two.