GIRL CUT IN TWO, A

“You can sense [Claude] Chabrol's wicked grin behind the camera in every sense… the master shows that he has lost none of his youthful energy.” - Toronto International Film Festival

Entering his sixth decade of filmmaking, highly acclaimed French director Claude Chabrol capitalises on his favourite themes of perversity and self-destructiveness in this thriller inspired by the real-life 1906 murder of Stanford White, the architect of Madison Square Garden.Transposed to contemporary France, Chabrol's re-imagining centres on a television weather girl, Gabrielle (Ludivine Sagnier), who is torn between two lovers - the older (and married) author Charles, and a playboy pharmaceutical heir, Paul. Given the choice, Gabrielle prefers the less available lover, but he tires of her, allowing the younger man to wed her on the rebound. But even within marriage, Gabrielle's heart lies elsewhere.