MovieChat Forums > La fille coupée en deux (2007) Discussion > ¿Anyone else find it a bland and pretent...

¿Anyone else find it a bland and pretentious movie?

posted 16 years ago by anxs
23 replies | jump to latest

We are supposed to think bizarre and grotesque situations develop behind the scenes, but to me not one bit of it is shown in the acting or the script. The lead actress is behaving like a soulless doll or something along the lines. The single mother acts like nothing out of the extraordinary is happening to her daughter, she keeps a lot of space between them. And I absolutely hate the performance of the young actor on the role of Goudans. The whole story develops as if everyone is high on Prozac.

Also found the story of the young Goudans killing his brother pointless.
Finally, the scene with the chainsaw I find it regrettable and pretentious. The final nail in the coffin for me.

(Sorry about my english i'm not used to do film critiques using the Queen's language)

[–] frogers21 16 years ago

There were SOOO many times I wanted to smack Gabrielle for being so stupid - not just naive, but stupid. Goudans had some really obvious mental issues, even before his mother told the story about the two boys in the bath. Bland and pretentious are both accurate descriptions, as well as disappointing and infuriating. Skip this movie.

[–] gridoon 15 years ago

"Goudans had some really obvious mental issues, even before his mother told the story about the two boys in the bath."

Yeah, after the (early) point where he nearly kills her for refusing to kiss him she should have realized that he was a dangerous nutcase.

[–] gusti2-1 16 years ago

Pedantic (the movie, not you)

[–] jammerjax 16 years ago

Yeah,this movie really piss me off man.It was very in the beginng it was pretty good then later all this crap man I was mad as hell.The could mad a really good movie without the killing just dumd.

[–] uberlulu 9 years ago

They are just full of it.

[–] cengelm 16 years ago

May be bland but not pretentious. I don't think that it strains for effect and interpretation.

[–] kminnehan 15 years ago

Yes but it is French so what do you expect.

[–] ohwellokay 15 years ago

How was it pretentious? That seems to be a word that gets thrown around whenever someone wants to sound smart bashing a film but doesn't have the intelligence to back it up. If you could explain how the film is pretentious I will revoke these words, but I'm not holding my breath.

[–] tntales 15 years ago

If I may explain how the film is pretentious.

The film beings with an interesting tale of a woman torn between lovers. The film thinks so highly of itself and the ultimate point it wishes to make about the woman impossibly torn between to lovers that the director/writer will make the characters perform contortions that run counter to the way they have been established or have them perform actions without context.

Some examples.

The character of Paul. Why does he hate Charles? We never know. Chabrol just hopes we'll take it on his word. Don't give me that "based on a true story" crap either. Want a true story, make a documentary. Don't make excuses for your poor writing.

The character of Gabrielle. Her last name is Snow, oh the many puns and implications of "pure as snow" especially the witty touch of the red dress. She marries a man she doesn't love and is afraid of. Why? We never even see her think about it. She just gets drunk and says she'll marry him. When he murders the only man she loves, she testifies to help him get a reduced sentence. Why would she do that? Just so she can get screwed in the deal after.

Chabrol uses his characters like pieces on a chess board and has no interest in making a film with real live characters. He makes improbable situations with people doing things that are not explained and then to cap it off he pulls a stunt at the end.

Amazingly her uncle is a magician and she can be cut in half! Wow, isn't that a great, brilliant visual metaphor for what we've been pounded with for the last hour and 55 minutes?! No it's not.

What it is is showing off. Chabrol has contorted the characters and the viewer just so he can have an ending where a magician saws a girl in half and make it mean something. Ooooh.

Now, that's what I call pretentious, sloppy flimmaking. To think that we'll be so impressed by your visual metaphor that we'll forgive you all the build up you wasted and good will you squandered. I even took it as a give that Paul hated Charles and this movie STILL SUCKED!

Sincerely awaiting your revocation,

C

[–] jjhumphrey 15 years ago

This is a good movie to watch if you don't want to laugh (no comedy in here), don't care to see any love scenes (the editor jumps over those), and you need a cure for insomnia (it will definitely put you to sleep). I was so bored I began to count how many times people drink in this movie. I suppose they are all alcoholic as well.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] robbie-h-wilson 15 years ago

bland but the plot and twists overall are too ridiculous to give it the pretentious stamp. now i will say that almost all of the characters are pretentious. why would they not be? they are all ridiculously rich, wealthy, and generally enjoy a life of leisure. now the author (AKA the dirty old man) Charles COULD be a normal guy, but he is maybe the most pretentious of the whole crew. he certainly puts himself and his own desires above those of everyone else. anyway, the lame ending just caps this as a mediocre movie at best. i fell asleep twice trying to watch it, so lets go with bland as vanilla yogurt.

[–] mirastout 11 years ago

You nailed it. Although most of this commentary was written a million years ago I just rented it, out of curiosity, (having liked his version of Madame Bovary), and Holy Christ was this piece of ordure ! *beep* ! Merde alors !!! A waste of eyeballs, and brains.

Empty and unaffecting, glossy in the most banal and sterile way, lacking sensuality, lust or eroticism, not particularly well shot, merely creepy, materialistic, incredibly shallow. All the women were unbelievable and boring bitches apart from the anodyne mother who had no backbone and wanted to be liked as an actress. Maybe in France successful writers live like they've won the lottery and aspire to be models in a Helmut Newton essay....the egotism of all of them was.... yawn I cant even bring myself to finish the sentence. Do people really talk about "amour" like that in the real world and call each other angels and saints and get married after one meal and few sips of Nuit St Georges? ...O seigneur !

[–] bluesy 15 years ago

Give me more "pretentious" (=arthouse?) movies and less american popcorn (heroic, macho, saving the world from terrorism) crap in cinema, and i'll be a happy person.

"Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world."

[–] creegah-3 15 years ago

Right on! A few more Girl Cut in Two and a few less Dark Knights would be nice. When the uncultured see a movie which allows them to get on a soapbox the first critic calls it "pretentious" and the next will call it "boring'. It has always been thus and always will be. I am sure that in 1942 some wise-ass teenager called Bambi pretentious and boring.

[–] djsnafu23 15 years ago

fOR SURE, THIS MAY NOT BE cHABROL'S BEST OR IN HIS TOP 5, BUT THE CHARACTERS WERE VERY INTERESTING, THE STORY AVOIDED CLICHES, AND IT WAS ENGROSSING.

myspace.com/bankrupteuropeans

Coz lifes too short to listen to Madlib

[–] rosedickens 15 years ago

Terrible movie, weak script/plot and badly acted!

[–] rosedickens 15 years ago

The characters do seem to be on prozac or something else. They are so annoying. It's hard to believe that any woman would fall for Saint Dennis, specially a young beautiful girl. Besides not being attractive, he's not charming or sweet, sexy or anything, he's as expressive as a wall! Indeed Grabriell's mother seems to act as if nothing was going on with her daughter and that Paul character is annoying and poorly developed. What a waste of my time!

[–] lagartija1919 15 years ago

I am a big fan of Chabrol but even I didn't enjoy this movie.
That said, I humbly suggest we move past the usual clichés (pretentious vs entertaining, for example) and just say that this one just didn't work. I think it's a bit over the top to accuse Chabrol of sloppy film making, I didn't find anything sloppy about this film, or for that matter, pretentious. He's made enough excellent films in the past, showing just how much of a perfectionist he is, that we can abstain from calling him sloppy. As for pretentious, yes, his characters are wealthy and listen to opera, but Chabrol very often sets his films among the privileged class, rich families who hide deep dark secrets that eat away at them like a cancer... let's just leave it at, this one didn't work. We still love you Claude.

Listen to the silence at night

[–] mac_alain 14 years ago

Bland? No. Pretentious? No. But quite complex unless you are "in the know"

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 14 years ago

I loved it!

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] dathilacha 14 years ago

me too. it was on tv--i watched it at first out of half an eye, not really paying attention--but i found myself getting involved in it and tivo'ed it to catch it again. this time around i paid attention and found it intricate, disturbing, thought-provoking--really an interesting movie.

[–] 9 years ago

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