BenoitMagimel Tagged Articles at Cinematical

And so comes A Girl Cut in Two, which recently screened at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival. I loved it. It's another superbly-made, highly enjoyable Chabrol film, but you probably won't see it on any top ten lists, nor will Chabrol be collecting any awards for it. I think "consistent" is a bad word among film people; we're more easily impressed by change and diversity, or by the newest, latest thing. Actors like John Wayne were routinely overlooked in favor of actors like Marlon Brando, though Brando could never in a million years have pulled off what John Wayne accomplished in The Searchers. Brando could do lots of things, but John Wayne was the best at being John Wayne. That's my standard rant, and that's how I feel about Chabrol. Now, onto the new film:

The latest thriller from Claude Chabrol is, surprisingly, a French attempt at an overwhelmingly American genre. I don't think the genre has a name, but it always poses the same question -- can I have sex with a crazy woman and walk away unscathed? Made famous by Fatal Attraction and its successors, this special catalog of films is one that American males cherish, because it allows us to work out our natural terror of dominant women and relish the idea that nymphomania may actually exist, if only in short, homicidal bursts. Who knew French men were struggling with the same issues? There are problems with this particular entry in the genre, but they don't lie with the crazy woman at the center, thankfully. Parisian actress Laura Smet perfectly embodies Senta, a fleshy mope who looks like a soiled carbon copy of Kate Winslet, with a broad, Rubenesque frame and snarling lips. Senta is a bridesmaid at the wedding of Sophie (Solène Bouton), sister of the arrow-straight and unadventurous Philippe (Benoit Magimel). Before the cake is cut, Senta is shooting daggers at Philippe and serving up lines like "I wasn't born to have a bad time." To show she's not kidding, she insists on sleeping with him on their first date. It takes a lot of crazy to make a man see the flaws in a woman like that.