A Girl Cut in Two (France, 2008) November 17, 2008

The heroine in Claude Chabrol's biting look at upper-class sexual mores and hypocrisy is a local weather-girl by the name of Gabrielle Deneige. Gabrielle's naif-like demeanor and angelic features promote a steady stream of condescension from the men around her. Her boss casually refers to her as "my pet" while men who have never met her elevate her to the pedestal of an "angel" figure. Eager for experience, Gabrielle falls in love with the much older and eminent writer Charles Saint-Denis - who undertakes her amorous education. Naive about the intentions of her world-wise and famous older lover and his libertine entourage of wife, mistress, and bordello-frequenting acquaintances, Gabrielle's unassuming disposition also attracts the obsessive attention of Paul Gaudens, local playboy and industrial-fortune heir with a dark secret and an obsessive nature. Trapped in a vortex of sexual obsession and unrequited love, Gabrielle must find a way to navigate the emotional fallout from a crime of passion that transforms her from the initiate to the initiated.