In The Cut

This film contains explicit sex scenes but doesn't mar this excellent film starring Meg Ryan, it has a good story line and a great twist at the end. This film also has some gruesome scenes and can be unnerving at times. Overall it is a film worth watching and buying if your a film buff and definitely worth it's 5 stars.

When I first watched it I thought the imagery used was good and that Ruffalo was excellent as Detective Malloy but otherwise I was left a bit cold by the experience. I've re-watched it several times now and it has captured my imagination. The acting is very good by all and I think this is Ruffalo's best performance (only rivalled by You Can Count on Me). Meg Ryan does bring her character Frannie to life and Frannie is not an easy character to convey because she is what might be described as an 'introvert' who spends a lot of time in her thoughts and imagination. The direction, settings, cinematography and images/music is fantastic - Campion and her team have doen a really good job here. Reasons to watch it: this is a sexy, dark film with characters who are not especially likeable yet they and their world draws you in. It is the opposite to a Tarantino film; lots of silence, wordlessness and subtle expressions. And in terms of plot there is lots of ambiguity about the villan/murderer that adds to what I think this film shows - life and relationships are ambiguous and we can be wrong in what we judge and make poor decisions based on these judgements.

This film wasnt wat i expected it 2 b, the storyline was smart interesting and rather dark and mysterious but well thought up and portrayed. The score wasn't as powerful as campion's "the piano" but it complemented the film well. Not a film i'd include in my collection but would b on my list of favourite rental choices

Jane Campion the director of this film seems to be telling this story from a woman's point of view. In her take of Susanna Moore's novel, Ms. Campion's emphasis is about the state of mind of Frannie. The impression one gets is that the director is more interested in how the sordid surroundings where Fran lives, in a seedy section of Manhattan, plays in the story.

We are giving a clue at the beginning of the film when Fran witnesses a very erotic scene in the basement of the bar she has gone with one of her students. She cannot get it out of her erotic mind. In fact that scene is a key to the character of this sexually repressed woman. It also brings a new dimension to films in which this aspect is only allowed to men to have erotic fantasies, but at no time can a woman be permitted the same.

The crime that is being investigated at the beginning comes to haunt Frannie, played by Meg Ryan. She meets the detectives working the case and falls for Malloy with such abandon that it comes as no surprise. Meg Ryan shows she can play this woman. Her scenes with Mark Ruffalo are very explicit. Luckily, Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn't have much to do. Her Pauline is not a very vivid character in the film version; one wonders if these two are really sisters.