Taglines: Everything you know about desire is dead wrong.
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.
In the Cut is an Australian – American mystery and erotic thriller film written and directed by Jane Campion and starring Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Campion’s screenplay is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Susanna Moore. The film focuses on a college English professor who becomes entangled with a detective investigating a series of gruesome murders in her Manhattan neighborhood.
The film received a limited release on 22 October 2003 in the United States, and was subsequently given a wide release on Halloween that year in the United States and United Kingdom. The film received negative to mixed reviews from critics.
High school teacher and writer Frannie Avery meets a student at a local bar, and when she heads to the bathroom sees a woman performing oral sex on a man. A few days later, Detective Giovanni Malloy questions her as he investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman, whose severed limb was found in her garden. They flirt despite the grisly nature of their introduction, and meet at the same bar later.
Frannie is alternately thrilled and frightened by the detective’s sexual aggressiveness, even as she grows more disillusioned with the attitudes and crude behavior of other men, including the detective’s partner, Richard Rodriguez. Even as Malloy defends his partner, who can no longer carry a gun because he threatened his unfaithful wife, he promises he will do anything she wants except hit her. She leaves abruptly and is assaulted walking home, but calls Malloy and their affair begins that night.
Frannie recognizes the detective’s tattoo, from the man in the basement of the bar, and asks her sister Pauline if she would trust a man who got a blow job in a bar. Pauline says yes, but Frannie is still suspicious. After Malloy tells her that she and the first victim were in the same bar the night of the murder, and she might have seen the murderer, she begins to suspect that Malloy may actually be the killer, especially after a second victim is found. But later she goes with him to a woodsy spot by the water, where he scares her by shooting at garbage bags floating on the surface, then tells her she should learn how to shoot. She surprises herself by taking aim and shooting well, before they head back to the city.
Directed by: Jane Campion
Starring: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Allison Nega, Yaani King, Heather Litteer, Zach Wegner
Screenplay by: Jane Campion, Susanna Moore
Production Design by: David Brisbin
Cinematography by: Dion Beebe
Film Editing by: Alexandre de Franceschi
Costume Design by: Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
Set Decoration by: Andrew Baseman
Music by: Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson
MPAA Rating: R for strong sexuality including explicit dialogue, nudity, graphic crime scenes and language.
Studio: Sony ScreenGems
Release Date: October 22, 2003
