Following the gruesome murder of a young woman in her neighborhood, an English teacher living in New York City — as if to test the limits of her own safety —propels herself into an impossibly risky sexual liaison with a police detective.
23 May In the Cut (2003)
In There
Jane Campion has a tenderness that is so attractive that if it did not come with warnings, I would build a romantic dreamworld around it. Because that is what we do with deep soft urges.
Her films seem always to be about the edges, the danger, the costs. But they are motivated by this genuine wonderful, warmness. It exists so that imperfect beings can swirl urges as whole lives. It exists as Campion’s substitute for the caprice that usually drives noir. We know it is there because Jennifer Jason Leigh knew about this, knows how to tell us that it is not just desired, but is desired because it is real.
Campion is a force in women’s nerve structure. We have lots of filmmakers who do well with fluids. We need her for the sinews, the tight bits that drive us. Thanks be. Thanks be that she can tie to both word and (not always, but sometimes) moving image.
Posted in 2009
Ted’s Evaluation — 3 of 3: Worth watching.
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