August 30, 2007

Venice. The Girl Cut in Two.

"Much like Woody Allen, French director Claude Chabrol seems unable to live without making movies and, after a glory period that decidedly belongs to the past, he now makes a new film of varying quality each year," writes Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net. "His latest film La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two) however, could be dubbed Chabrol's Match Point (to continue the Allen metaphor); a deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form."

The Girl Cut in Two

"It's cynical business as usual for Claude Chabrol, who offers plentiful style and psychological finesse, if few surprises, in his latest jaundiced and sophisticated entertainment," writes Jonathan Romney for Screen Daily, where he also has a few good words for the "[s]trong performances by the increasingly confident Ludivine Sagnier and the ever-dependable François Berléand - plus a flamboyant, somewhat less believable one from Benoît Magimel."

"With language and mannerisms that are laugh-out-loud funny, Lyons-set story of a local TV weather girl who is simultaneously pursued by two very different men eviscerates the non-charm of the bourgeoisie," writes Lisa Nesselson for Variety. "While not a classic, this is a pleasantly disturbing, nominally voyeuristic romp in the territory Chabrol knows best."

"Chabrol's starting point is the 1906 murder of Stanford White, the architect of Madison Square Garden, whose killing by the husband of his actress mistress gave rise to what was described in its time as the 'trial of the century,'" notes Bernard Besserglik in the Hollywood Reporter. "The borrowed story is a pretext for Chabrol to revel in the incidential details of French social life and its sexual undertones: the publishing world in which Charles moves (Mathilda May is particularly eye-catching as his publicist Capucine); the shallow, predatory world of television in which the pert, pretty Gabrielle is irresistible bait to middle-aged middle management; and the world of refined manners and inherited wealth that turns out monsters like Paul and his siblings."

Covering the coverage: Venice 07. Index.



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Posted by dwhudson at August 30, 2007 4:57 AM

Comments

""His latest film...a deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form."

Why is it whenever Chabrol (or Woody Allen, for that matter) makes a new movie, so many 'critics' call it "a return to form"?

It was a worn cliche years ago; now it's just an indication of a writer reaching.

There's no "return" -- it's a continuation.

Posted by: Flickhead at August 30, 2007 2:08 PM