In the Cut

Plot

A New York writing professor, Frannie Avery (Ryan), has an erotic affair with a police detective (Ruffalo) investigating a murder in her neighborhood of a beautiful young woman…

Release Year: 2003

Rating: 5.2/10 (13,244 voted)

Critic's Score: 46/100

Director:
Jane Campion

Stars: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh

Storyline
Following the gruesome murder of a young woman in her neighborhood, a self-determined woman living in New York City–as if to test the limits of her own safety–propels herself into an impossibly risky sexual liaison. Soon she grows increasingly wary about the motives of every man with whom she has contact–and about her own.

Writers: Jane Campion, Susanna Moore

Cast:

Jennifer Jason Leigh
–

Pauline

Meg Ryan
–

Frannie Avery

Micheal Nuccio
–

Frannie's Young Father

Allison Nega
–

Young Father's Fiancee

(as Alison Nega)

Dominick Aries
–

Attentive Husband

Susan Gardner
–

Perfect Wife

Sharrieff Pugh
–

Cornelius Webb

Nick Damici
–

Detective Ritchie Rodriguez

Heather Litteer
–

Angela Sands

Daniel T. Booth
–

Luther Wilker Red Turtle Bartender

Yaani King
–

Frannie's Student

Frank Harts
–

Frannie's Student

Sebastian Sozzi
–

Frannie's Student

Zach Wegner
–

Frannie's Student

(as Zack Wegner)

Mark Ruffalo
–

Detective Giovanni A. Malloy

Taglines:
Everything you know about desire is dead wrong.

Details

Official Website:
Pathé [France] |
Sony Pictures |

Release Date: 31 October 2003

Filming Locations: 7th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $12,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $97,625
(USA)
(26 October 2003)
(6 Screens)

Gross: $23,726,793
(Worldwide)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min
 |
Canada: 113 min
(Toronto International Film Festival)

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Jane Campion had tried to direct the film ever since the book was published in 1996.

Goofs:

Continuity:
After Frannie and Malloy's first intimate encounter, Malloy is dressing as Frannie realizes she has lost one of the charms from her bracelet. Malloy is buttoning his shirt and working on putting on his tie. When he turns to help Frannie look in the bed, his shirt and tie are on perfectly. Yet the next shot has him again adjusting the shirt & tie with the collar up.

Quotes:

[first lines]

Pauline:
What does "broccoli" mean"?

Frannie:
Depends on the context. Pubic hair or marijuana. It's a noun.

Pauline:
And "Virginia"?

Frannie:
Vagina. As in, "He penetrated her Virginia with a hammer".

User Review

Obviously Cuts Too Deep for Some

Rating: 9/10

Deary me, some people get upset when a film isn't what they want it to be,
don't they? How dare the film be what the film-makers set out to make,
instead of what someone's narrow expectations dictate it should b?

Fancy In the Cut being gritty, seamy, sexy and deeply disturbing … just
like all the publicity (and the rating) warned us it would be. What a
shock. How did the people expecting another Piano, or Meg Ryan Finds True
Love Yet Again ever find themselves in the cinema?

As for those who have said they have walked out completely unmoved …
either they must be aliens or robots, or are fooling themselves, not wanting
to acknowledge the truth of what they've seen on the screen. Seldom have I
seen a film that so truly examines the dark side of our sexual impulses. I
walked out quite shattered, and wandered around in a daze for a
while.

Meg Ryan completely miscast? Ridiculous and insulting. How dare you tell an
actress she has to be Little Mary Sunshine for the rest of her life. And she
pulls it off brilliantly. She and Mark Ruffalo give the most stunning lead
performances for a long time. Why? Because they're playing real,
multi-layered people. Not goody-goodies or baddy-baddies.

Didn't like any of the characters? Must have a very limited range of
acquaintances, or alternatively, don't like the real people you do
know.

Thriller plot not thrilling? Admittedly it's not the strongest point in the
film, but it has all the required shocks and surprises (and, you'd think
enough gore for the modern audience), and while the revelation of the
murderer is not the biggest twist ending ever, the final shot takes your
breath away.

And anyway, Campion, while handling the thriller genre competently, is using
it as a means to explore sexuality. And attraction. And how much of love
involves physicality, carnality, trust, the desire to dominate, the desire
to be dominated, and above all, the attraction of the DANGEROUS. Yes, adult
stuff, not often tackled in mainstream films.

I think it's her best film ever (possibly excepting Sweetie), and I give it
9 out of 10.