Claude Chabrol's new film, A Girl Cut in Two,"" focuses on typical tragic love-triangle drama and the psychological trauma that often follows.
The plot focuses on Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier), an attractive young television weather woman who, throughout the film, is tossed like a pinball between two equally bad suitors: Charles (Franà §ois Berléand), a dishonest novelist twice Gabrielle's age who takes advantage of her trusting nature, and Paul (Benoà rt Magimel), a mentally unstable young dandy living off a generous inheritance. Such a premise seems like it would provide plenty of opportunity for intensity and suspense, but the film runs more like a drawn-out documentary. It is painfully slow paced and lacks diversity in both scene and emotional atmosphere.
One of the film's biggest flaws is that Chabrol tells it through a series of mostly quiet conversations between his largely one-dimensional characters. This leaves viewers confused about the psychology behind Gabrielle's desperate love for Charles, not because the film doesn't provide any reasons - one character points to the absence of Gabrielle's father - but because it lacks convincing emotional chemistry.
After Charles is finished catalyzing Gabrielle's sexual awakening, a process that includes inducing her to perform debauched sexual acts with multiple men at a high-class brothel, he eventually abandons her. Devastated, Gabrielle flings herself pathetically at the spoiled Paul, though she retains an attachment for Charles. Tense as this love triangle may be, it inevitably leads to an anti-climax fueled by jealousy and filled with violence, which seems completely out of place.
The biggest disappointment rests with the filmmakers' stubborn indifference to the emotional weight in any of their scenes. Even the plot's most intense moment is documented like one of the film's many colorless dinner conversations, immediately tapering into a long, drawn-out conclusion devoted to more dry, psychological dialogue. Chabrol's decision to reveal character backgrounds through conversations like this only adds to the monotony.
Although the film might have merit in its thoughtful attempt to explore themes of class conflict and cut through the mores of French bourgeois society, its lack of entertainment value and emotional power undermines these loftier objectives. ""A Girl Cut in Two"" is not for anyone looking for an engaging or entertaining movie.
Grade: D
