In the Cut

A murder thriller wrapped up in a melancholic mood. Jane Campion has a troubled soul and likes to exorcise her demons through cinematic images. But she shouldn’t get into things she is unfamiliar with. From the thriller perspective, the plot moves forward terribly slowly; the film is thus boring, predictable and, in its surprising ending, more naïve than shocking and suspenseful. And that controversial close-up of a blow job in the opening scene exists only so people will talk about it. (11/20/2003)

Well shot dreadful screenplay. Two distinct and notably discordant halves fail to connect even with the crucial twist starting the final chaos, nor the desperately bewildered Meg Ryan. The overly long dialogues do not help to penetrate the characters under the skin, and the flashy flashbacks can extract from boredom, but in the end, they remain mere empty inserts. The erotically inclined storyline of Frannie's personal life then irritates with its openness, which instead of aiding the story, buries it under layers of lascivious and unfortunately occasionally ridiculous scenes. The biggest problem, however, is when lofty phrases appear in dialogues or monologues, which the heroes simply squander emptily. It's a shame for the unpredictable Ruffalo, who doesn't deserve such a film in his filmography, the rest remains a pitiful, albeit occasionally striving, attempt. (08/31/2007)

Visually, it’s very well done (camera, editing, flashbacks, fast-paced scenes), but the director struggled with the content, resulting in a bland genre mix that might be enjoyable, but it probably won't last in memory longer than a few hours. For a shocking women's drama, it lacks more dramatic moments, for a thriller, a better screenplay, and as an erotic film, it probably wouldn't hold up either. It did have a really suffocating atmosphere, Meg Ryan was very daring, but she could have jumped upside-down and it wouldn't have changed the quality of the film. (08/09/2004)