''A Girl Cut in Two'' () is a 2007

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

co-written and directed by

Claude Chabrol Claude Henri Jean Chabrol (; 24 June 1930 – 12 September 2010) was a French film director and a member of the French New Wave (''nouvelle vague'') group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s. Like his colleagues an ...

, starring Ludivine Sagnier, Benoît Magimel and François Berléand. It tells the story of a naïve and affectionate girl who has disastrous relationships with two rich and influential men. One uses her as a sex object and abandons her, while the second marries her but proves lethally unbalanced. The film was released in France on 8 August 2007, and received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on 15 August 2008.

Plot

Gabrielle, a pretty but innocent young woman, lives with her mother in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and works as a weather presenter for the local TV station. She attracts the attention of two very different men. One is Paul, the heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, who is too arrogant and immature to interest her seriously. The other is Charles, a nationally known writer more than twice her age whose wife stays in their country house while he uses a flat in town. There, he takes Gabrielle and teaches her the sexual arts, expanding them by visits to an exclusive sex club. Having enjoyed all her youthful passion, he disappears on an extended business trip. Gabrielle falls into a severe depression and her worried mother eventually lets Paul visit. He takes Gabrielle for a holiday to Lisbon, in separate rooms, and there she agrees to marry him. His widowed mother is appalled and a pre-nuptial contract excludes Gabrielle from all the family wealth. Not wanting any future misunderstanding with the insecure and volatile Paul, on their honeymoon she tells him about the relationship with Charles. Back in Lyon, they attend a grand charity gala hosted by Paul's mother. The principal speaker is Charles and, in front of the town's élite, Paul shoots him dead. He gets a lenient sentence of seven years in an institution, from where he divorces Gabrielle, leaving her penniless. Back home with her mother and seriously depressed, her uncle comes up with a solution. He tours with a cheesy magic show and Gabrielle in a sexy outfit becomes the girl who is cut in two by a circular saw. A close-up reveals that her emotional pain is unrelieved.

Cast

* Ludivine Sagnier as Gabrielle Aurore Deneige * Benoît Magimel as Paul André Claude Gaudens * François Berléand as Charles Denis, known as Charles Saint-Denis * Mathilda May as Capucine Jamet * Caroline Silhol as Geneviève Gaudens, Paul's mother * Marie Bunel as Marie Deneige, Gabrielle's mother * Valeria Cavalli as Dona Saint-Denis, Charles' wife * Étienne Chicot as Denis Deneige, Gabriella's uncle *

Édouard Baer Édouard Baer (born 1 December 1966) is a French actor, director, screenwriter, film producer and radio personality. In 2001, Edouard Baer played the Egyptian scribe Otis in Alain Chabat's hit comedy Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra. Baer ...

as himself * Jean-Marie Winling as Gérard Briançon * as Philippe Le Riou * Thomas Chabrol as Stéphane Lorbach, the Gaudens family's lawyer * as Eléonore Gaudens * Hubert Saint-Macary as Bernard Violet * as Joséphine Gaudens, Paul's sister * Stéphane Debac as Antoine Volte

References

External links

* * * *
Review
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Cut In Two, A 2007 films 2007 black comedy films 2000s French films 2000s French-language films 2000s German films Films about adultery in France Films directed by Claude Chabrol Films set in Lisbon Films set in Lyon Films shot in Ain Films shot in Lisbon Films shot in Lyon French black comedy films French-language black comedy films French-language German films German black comedy films