La fille coupée en deux 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Spectacularly assured, A Girl Cut in Two keeps you off-balance as it establishes a world where every conversation is a flirtation, and trouble and heartbreak sneak in on little cat feet when no one's looking. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Claude Chabrol's capacity to make shopworn material seem almost new is especially evident in this 2007 drama. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: More than a century later, this is still a juicy story, and the actors don't back away from its more hysterical flourishes. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Chabrol has made a career out of savage class warfare, and A Girl Cut In Two fires off another bitter salvo. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Chabrol has always been more interested in sensibility than sense, in discourse on fashion and form than in the narrative possibilities of function, and on the rich hypocrisies of the wealthy. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Gabrielle is more than a girl cut in two by this ambience, she's pulled every which way, a situation that the director investigates with the subtlety and complexity only a lifetime behind the camera can provide. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: In A Girl Cut in Two, Sagnier is yummy as a local TV weathergirl caught between a womanizing older novelist (Francois Berleand) and a nouveau riche playboy (Magimel) used to getting his own way. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Sex, murder, insanity, perversity -- A Girl Cut in Two has it all, yet it stands as a singularly classy and sophisticated drama. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Never more than semi-plausible. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Chabrol is approaching the big 8-0, yet he continues to do quality work, as shown by A Girl Cut in Two. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: This is one of Mr. Chabrol's strangest films, but he still makes a ripple in his ocean. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A cool study of erotic longing, misguided love and class warfare in the civilized spheres of French society, Claude Chabrol's A Girl Cut in Two, despite its high melodrama and wicked humor, delivers a real emotional wallop. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Notice how nimbly Chabrol glides through his establishing scenes, and how adroitly he introduces other characters. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Along the way, a powerful spectacle unfolds with serious class and feminist implications. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Chabrol is a past master at visual storytelling and a stiletto wit. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Globe and Mail: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: The pacing has a tendency to downshift from deliberate to meandering at crucial moments, and though the trio of actors is on pointa"especially Magimel, a master at smug menace -- Chabrola(TM)s digs feel frustratingly halfhearted. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: This is one of Chabrol's most elegant, acerbic and heartfelt entertainments in years. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: As is nearly always the case with Chabrol, a special pleasure pervades the picture. Read more

Variety: Read more

Lisa Nesselson, Variety: While not a classic, this is a pleasantly disturbing, nominally voyeuristic romp in the territory Chabrol knows best. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: A Girl Cut in Two is a spry piece of work. Chabrol uses this sinister clown show as a means to puncture the media world's hot-air balloons -- as well as to highlight the hypocrisies of his favorite target, the haute bourgeoisie. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: Although a minor work by Chabrol, it would be a major work by most directors, and one that's still fascinating even in its flaws. Read more