In the Cut (film)

Frannie Avery, an introverted writer and English teacher in New York City, meets one of her students, Cornelius, at a local pub to talk about their coursework. Cornelius propounds a theory that John Wayne Gacy may not have been guilty of his murderous crimes, later suggesting that 'desire' was responsible. During the meeting, she heads to the bathroom in the basement. In the darkened basement hallway, she witnesses a woman performing oral sex on a man. Stunned, she momentarily observes the scene but, due to the lack of light, is only able to discern a 3 of spades tattoo on the man's wrist. Periodically as she travels the subway, Frannie reads posters of poetic quotations in the carriages, which seem to have bearing on her own life story.

Several days later, Detective Giovanni Malloy questions Frannie as he investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman, whose severed limb was found in Frannie's 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 sexist 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 wife after she destroyed one of his awards when she caught him "having sex with a fat chick," he promises he will do anything Frannie wants except hit her. After questioning his 3 of spades tattoo, which he says identifies him as a member of a secret club, she sheepishly leaves the bar abruptly. On a dark street, she is assaulted by a masked stranger while walking home. The stranger takes her bag, including her wallet. During her escape, she runs into the path of a taxi, which hits her, knocks her down, and causes superficial injuries. Upon arriving at her apartment, she phones Malloy, asking him to come over. After a while, the two have passionate sex and she is taken aback by his sexual prowess. She tells him her mother's romanticised story of how she became engaged to her father after he proposed to her while ice-skating. She realises a charm is missing from her bracelet and Malloy suggests it probably fell off during the West Broadway attack.

The next day, Frannie confides about the sexual encounter to her free-spirited half-sister, Pauline, who lives above a strip club. After Malloy tells Frannie that she and the first victim were in the same bar the night of the murder, and that she might have seen the murderer, she begins to suspect that Malloy may actually be the killer, especially after a second victim is found dismembered in a washing machine at a school laundry. Later, she accompanies Malloy to a woodsy spot along a river, 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. Meanwhile, Cornelius has been taken in for police questioning on suspicion of the murders, due to his handing in a term paper on serial killers illustrated in blood.

Upon returning to her apartment, Frannie is confronted by her former boyfriend, John, with whom she has ended a relationship and who has told her he has been having panic attacks. Later, Cornelius comes to the apartment, displaying a bruised eye, which he blames on police interrogators. While there, he attempts to rape her—an attack that is interrupted by Detective Rodriguez, who states that he was sent by Malloy to check on her. Cornelius swiftly leaves. She goes to Pauline's apartment, which she finds unlocked and in disarray. In the bathroom, which is covered in blood, she finds Pauline's severed head in a plastic bag in the sink. Traumatized, Frannie is briefly questioned by Malloy at the police station and then is driven home by a female uniformed police officer. After entering the apartment, she gets drunk. Malloy shows up later and reveals that the killer's 'signature' is leaving a ring on the finger of his victims. They begin to flirt and she handcuffs him to a pipe before making love to him. After sex, Frannie discovers that he had a key to Pauline's apartment. She searches for the handcuff keys in his jacket and finds the missing charm. He claims he found it at the scene of her assault and planned to return it to her but she is suspicious. She finally confronts Malloy about his tattoo, as well as her suspicion that he is a serial killer, responsible for the string of murders. She flees the apartment, leaving Malloy handcuffed. She has Malloy's jacket in hand and is met by Rodriguez outside. He tells her they need to talk and persuades her to get into his unmarked police car.

As the two discuss what has transpired, Rodriguez drives Frannie to the Little Red Lighthouse below the George Washington Bridge, commenting that he likes to go fishing there. She tells him that the location reminds her of a book she teaches, To the Lighthouse. While the two talk, Frannie notices Rodriguez has the same 3 of spades tattoo on his wrist as Malloy. Rodriguez claims that he and Malloy got identical tattoos after their first big bust together. Realizing it is actually Rodriguez — not Malloy — who is the killer, Frannie fears she is to be his next victim. Rodriquez realises Frannie knows he is the killer, but holds out a ring on the end of his knife, saying 'Will you marry me?" Donning Malloy's jacket, which contains his gun, Frannie holds Rodriguez at gunpoint before shooting him once. He attempts to strangle her, but she manages to fire the gun again, killing him. She walks, bloodied, back to her apartment and lies down with the exhausted Malloy, who is still cuffed to the pipe where she left him.

Nicole Kidman and Jane Campion spent five years developing the film. This is Kidman's producing debut. Kidman was originally cast as Frannie, but dropped out because she was getting a divorce and needed more time with her children. This film was executive produced by Effie T. Brown,[3] in association with Sony Screen Gems and Pathe International.

In the Cut grossed $1,666,830 at the box office in Australia.[4]

The total worldwide gross of In the Cut was $23,726,793.[2]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 32% based on reviews from 173 critics and an average rating of 4.86/10; the consensus reads: "Jane Campion takes a stab at subverting the psycho-sexual thriller genre with In the Cut, but gets tangled in her own abstraction."[5] On Metacritic the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on reviews from 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] CinemaScore gave it a rating of "F" based on surveys from general audiences; as of April 2020, it is one of only 22 films to receive such a rating.[7]

Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote: "Beautifully crafted and highlighted by an arresting change-of-pace [performance] by Meg Ryan as an English teacher erotically awakened by a homicide detective. But the story's unpalatable narrative holes and dramatic missteps will hold sway over the pic's better qualities."[8] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote: "Though the oppressive artiness makes the early scenes fairly ridiculous, the director's odd methods add rare tension to the climax, as it becomes evident that the finale won't be so predictable in Campion's hands."[9]

In the Cut was among the films discussed favorably by Slavoj Žižek in The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006).[10] Film critic David Thomson has also called it a masterpiece,[11] and, in his book Moments That Made the Movies, hails it as "one of the great films of the twenty-first century."[12]

• In the Cut at IMDb
• In the Cut at AllMovie
• In the Cut at Box Office Mojo