The acclaimed New Zealand director Jane Campion (THE PIANO) here turns her unusual artistic eye toward the urban erotic thriller genre. Based on the novel by Susanna Moore, IN THE CUT tells the story of Frannie (Meg Ryan) an English teacher living in Manhattan's East Village who finds herself mixed up in a homicide investigation after a severed head turns up in her garden. Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sexually unhinged half-sister and Mark Ruffalo plays a homicide detective on the case who falls into bed with Frannie after she's attacked on the lower east side. Suspects include her stalker ex-lover (Kevin Bacon) and a troubled student (Sharrieff Pugh) who's obsessed with serial killer John Wayne Gacy. As the body count rises however, Frannie realizes that the prime suspect just may be the very cop in her bed.
If this all sounds like a by-the-numbers sex crime thriller don't worry; Campion twists the genre towards her own ends, adding multi-layered focus, deeply saturated colors, a dream-like mood and copious amounts of feminist allegorical symbolism. Meg Ryan fans should be shocked by her performance here (replete with several nude scenes), which is a major departure from her usual cute characterizations. Nicole Kidman, who starred in Campion's PORTRAIT OF A LADY served as producer. Fans of that film, and Campion's work in general, should enjoy the perverse psychosexual theatrics on display in this grim urban fairy tale.
(35 votes)
2.
Based on Susanna Moore's novel, In the Cut centres on Frannie (Meg Ryan), an emotionally stifled English teacher who gets steamy with sultry Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), a cop who's investigating a series of brutal murders--but Frannie soon suspects that Malloy may be the killer. As a psychological thriller, In the Cut is heavier on psychology than thrills; the story is a skeleton that director Jane Campion cloaks in one of the most nightmarish visions of urban life since Taxi Driver or Seven, accompanied by lots of explicit sex. The movie's dark tone will put some viewers off, but Ruffalo's effortless magnetism serves him well; no woman in the audience will question how quickly Ryan falls into bed with him. It also features Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon (uncredited). --Bret Fetzer
(35 votes)
3.
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.
(32 votes)
4.
Frannie Avery (MEG RYAN) is a self-determined writing professor living alone in New York. Smart and reserved, Frannie has nevertheless allowed her study of street slang and detective novels to keep her at a safe distance from the gritty side of the city. But everything changes one night when, while meeting a student in a local bar, Frannie walks in on an intimate moment between a man and a woman. She is instantly paralyzed by the eros before her, and though she does not see the man’s face, she cannot forget the tattoo on his wrist or his brazen stare.
Soon after, Frannie learns of a grisly murder near her apartment when, unexpectedly, a police detective insists on questioning her. The strangely familiar and alluring Detective Malloy (MARK RUFFALO) believes she may know something. At first, Malloy mystifies Frannie, and although she tries to keep him at a distance, Frannie becomes attracted. They meet for a drink, and Malloy offers to be anyone she wants him to be, a promise that frightens Frannie almost as much as the tattoo on his wrist. Even as Frannie’s half-sister Pauline (JENNIFER JASON LEIGH) encourages her to continue the relationship, doubts linger, and Frannie has to fight the urge to run away as is her habit.
As the investigation continues, Frannie finds herself propelled further and further into both the increasingly gruesome murder case and an increasingly risky liaison with Malloy, who opens her up in ways she cannot fathom. When a masked assailant attacks her, it becomes clear that Frannie can no longer trust anyone. Not her intense young student Cornelius (SHARRIEFF PUGH), who is writing a paper about the "innocence" of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Not her disquieting former lover John (KEVIN BACON) who follows her every move. And definitely not Malloy, who now rouses not only her deepest desires but her darkest suspicions about the danger encroaching around her.
(33 votes)
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