La Fille coupée en deux (2007)

La Fille coupée en deux is a French romantic film drama first released in 2007, directed by Claude Chabrol.  The film stars Ludivine Sagnier, Mathilda May, Benoît Magimel, François Berléand and Edouard Baer.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


Gabrielle is a young and very attractive TV weather presenter.  Her interest in literature brings her into contact with Charles Saint-Denis, a successful writer with a temperament to match.  Although Saint-Denis is more than twice her age, Gabrielle begins a passionate love affair with him.  She in turn attracts the attentions of Paul Gaudens, an unstable playboy whose enormous wealth makes him an irresistible catch for Gabrielle.  With two strong-willed lovers vying for her attentions, Gabrille soon finds that she is being torn in two...

Has the Master lost his touch?  After the bland La Demoiselle d’honneur and the painfully languorous L’Ivresse du pouvoir, Claude Chabrol appears to have taken up permanent residence in Mediocreville judging by his latest film, which is the palest imitation of his earlier cinematic achievements.  La Fille coupée en deux is a social satire with a distinctly Chabrolesque flavour, mocking not only the artificial and warped world of the privileged bourgeoisie but also the smug, self-satisfied world of contemporary literature, that last bastion of unfettered pretentiousness.  The film has great promise, but it lacks the acerbic bite and chilling undercurrents that we have come to expect of France’s answer to Alfred Hitchcock.  This is recognisably the work of Chabrol, but a Chabrol who is muzzled and neutered, lacking the vigour and subtle viciousness of previous years.

As is typical of Chabrol, the film is drenched in cruel irony, with its likeable heroine inexplicably torn between a pompous, egoistical writer and an even more pompous and egoistical playboy.   It is to the film’s detriment that the characterisation lacks the sophistication that we would expect of a seasoned screenwriter and metteur en scène.   The characters are either so thinly developed as to be almost invisible, or else so outrageously stereotypical as to make this a virtual parody of a Claude Chabrol film.  Failings in the script are exacerbated by the performances to an almost ludicrous pitch, the worst offender being Benoît Magimel, whose portrayal of a self-obsessed dandy borders on the absurd, wrecking the dramatic tension in several key scenes.

If La Fille coupée en deux has one saving grace it is Ludivine Sagnier.  Here is an actress who could not give a lacklustre performance even if her life depended on it.  She brings a reality, elegance and sly dark humour to the film that miraculously compensates for most of its failings and rekindles something of that former Chabrol brilliance.  Sagnier’s portrayal of Gabrielle is wonderfully ambiguous.  We never quite know whether she is a cheap opportunist, a rampant nymphomaniac or is genuinely infatuated with the two chauvinistic grotesques, Charles and Paul.  Is Gabrielle really as innocent as she seems, or is she a calculating femme fatale who deliberately propels her rival lovers to their inescapable doom?  Anyone familiar with Chabrol’s oeuvre can hardly fail to see the parallels with his earlier film, Les Cousins (1959).

Whilst it may not be vintage Chabrol, La Fille coupée en deux is a watchable if not altogether satisfying mélange of romantic intrigue and social satire.  It may be a little undercooked and lacking in body, but Ludivine Sagnier’s electrifying presence prevents it from being stale and unpalatable.  No, Claude Chabrol hasn’t yet lost his touch, but it is hard to get excited about his latest offerings.  Perhaps the best is yet to come...?

© James Travers 2010

On dit un "bon Chabrol" comme un "bon cru" ou une "bonne année" pour un vin!  La fille coupée en deux est donc un bon Chabrol.  Passions amoureuses, jalouseries, mesquineries ou cruauté pure et simple: tous les ingrédients qui font habituellement la qualité de ce cinéaste sont au rendez-vous.  Une jolie petite blonde qui fait la météo sur une chaîne télé (Ludivine Sagnier). Un écrivain célèbre qui a la cinquantaine (François Berléand). Un fils à papa arrogant et un tantinet détraqué (Benoît Magimel), et sa mère, bourgeoise très, très catholique (Caroline Sihol)... 

Les personnages sont plantés, dans une province lyonnaise qui, en l’occurrence, n’a rien à envier – sur le plan du noeud de vipère familial – à sa cousine bordelaise!  Cette fois, Chabrol y ajoute, en prime, une petite pincée de milieu audiovisuel:  animateurs peu cultivés, et dirigeants de chaîne prêts à tout pour l’audimat!  La petite animatrice météo tombe follement amoureuse de cet écrivain qui pourrait être son père. Mais tout va très vite déraper car le romancier a de très nettes tendances perverses...

Chabrol mène le tout avec la maestria qu’on lui connaît. On peut cependant regretter qu’aujourd’hui (par rapport à ses premiers films, à l’époque de la Nouvelle Vague), il ne cherche plus tant à déranger le spectateur qu’à le séduire.  On est effectivement séduit. On se laisse totalement prendre par cette histoire très actuelle. Mais Chabrol aurait pu rendre son film encore plus noir, plus mystérieux et plus vénéneux. Tout est presque trop explicite... Les acteurs font tous un très beau travail - notamment Benoît Magimel dans un contre-emploi, par rapport à son physique de petit jeune homme "propre", et Caroline Sihol, excellente dans le rôle de la grande bourgeoise qui n’acceptera jamais une mésalliance pour son fils chéri, sans oublier, bien sûr, la jeune Ludivine Sagnier, qui s’améliore de film en film. 

© Georges Cohen 2008

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