Themes: Dangerous Attraction, Serial Killers, Sibling Relationships
Main Cast: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Damici, Sharrieff Pugh
Release Year: 2003
Country: US
Run Time: 118 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Jane Campion directs the erotic thriller In the Cut, based on the best-selling suspense novel by Susanna Moore. Set in New York City during the summertime, the film is centered on Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan), a middle-class English teacher in the midst of researching a book project about colloquial language. One night she accidentally witnesses a sexual situation involving a suspected killer, which may make her valuable to a police investigation. When Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) comes to her apartment to interview her about a neighborhood murder, she becomes intensely attracted to him. Although they are not sure if they can completely trust each other, Frannie and Malloy start up a passionate love affair. Meanwhile, the killer remains on the loose and the list of suspects includes Malloy's partner, Rodriguez (Nick Damici), and Frannie's student Cornelius (Sharrieff Pugh). Jennifer Jason Leigh stars as Frannie's half-sister, Pauline. In the Cut was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
Few directors have attempted to revive the '70s psycho-sexual thriller with the vigor that Jane Campion does in In the Cut, her uneven but adventurous first stab at genre filmmaking. Say what you will about the film -- overheated, grisly, riddled with plot holes -- it's never tentative. Heroine Meg Ryan isn't portrayed as a schoolmarm-in-the-woods type exploring the dangerous and threatening world of big-city sexuality so much as she's a grown woman trying to narrow the sometimes-imperceptible gap between desire and self-respect. Her scenes with Mark Ruffalo play up the threat that lurks just beneath the surface of his character's slouchy machismo, and they're riveting: The two have a strange kind of anti-chemistry that prevents In the Cut from devolving into another cautionary tale about the perils of female lust. The adaptation's stock thriller template -- replete with a ersatz-Silence of the Lambs ending -- just about does in the production in its last act. But even as she provides a tidy resolution, Campion refuses to suggest that all is well in the world of male-female courtship. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
Sunrise Coigney - Frannie's Young Mother; Micheal Nuccio - Frannie's Young Father; Alison Nega - Young Father's Fiance; Dominick Aries - Attentive Husband; Susan Gardner - Perfect Wife; Heather Litteer - Angela Sands; Julius Le Flore - Cursing Motorist; Dana Lubotsky - Laundry Room Murder Witness; Michelle Hurst - Teacher At Frannie's School; Vinny Vella - Concerned Bystander; Arthur Nascarella - Captain Crosley; Theo Kogan - Baby Doll Bartender; Funda Duyal - Baby Doll Bartender; Jacinto Taras Riddick - Detective In Precinct; Sebastian Sozzi - Frannie's Student; Cordell Clyde - Informer; Yaani King - Frannie's Student; Frank Harts - Frannie's Student; Daniel T. Booth - Red Turtle Bartender; James Fiero - Detective Halloran; Ami Goodheart - Baby Doll Dancer; Tim House - Baby Doll Bar Customer; Nancy La Scala - Baby Doll Dancer; Patrice O'Neal - Hector, Baby Doll; The Bouncer; Upendran Paniker - Taxi Driver; Karen Riggins - Baby Doll Dancer; Sharon Riggins - Baby Doll Dancer; Hal Sherman - Forensic Detective; Sandy Vital - Baby Doll Dancer; Zach Wegner - Frannie's Student; Kendra Zimmerman - Café Waitress
Credit
David Stein - Art Director, Ray Angelic - Associate Producer, Kerry Barden - Casting, Billy Hopkins - Casting, Suzanne Smith - Casting, Mark Bennett - Casting, Árni Hardarson - Conductor, Beatrix Aruna Pasztor - Costume Designer, Tim Bird - First Assistant Director, Jane Campion - Director, Laurie Parker - Second Unit Director, Alexandre de Franceschi - Editor, Effie Brown - Executive Producer, François Ivernel - Executive Producer, Gayle Vangrofsky - Location Manager, Greg Routt - Location Manager, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson - Composer (Music Score), Laurie Parker - Musical Direction/Supervision, Noriko Watanabe - Makeup, Neal Martz - Makeup Special Effects, Nils Benson - Camera Operator, David Brisbin - Production Designer, Dion Beebe - Cinematographer, Christopher Goode - Production Manager, Nicole Kidman - Producer, Laurie Parker - Producer, Ken Ishii - Production Sound, Chris Swinbanks - Recording, Nick Damici - Singer, China Forbes - Singer, Andrew Baseman - Set Designer, Mark Ward - Special Effects, Peter Miller - Sound/Sound Designer, Julius Le Flore - Stunts Coordinator, Jane Campion - Screenwriter, Susanna Moore - Screenwriter, Nils Benson - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Steve McAuliff - Animal Trainer/Wrangler, Jón Ólafsson - Musical Performer, Andreas Klein - Musical Performer, Einar Örn Benediktsson - Musical Performer, Thórarinn Bladursson - Musical Performer, Zbigniew Dubik - Musical Performer, Hrafnkell Orri Egilsson - Musical Performer, Pétur Grétarsson - Musical Performer, Bryndis Halla Gylfadottir - Musical Performer, Szymon Kuran - Musical Performer, Kristján Matthíasson - Musical Performer, Gudmundur Pétursson - Musical Performer, Sigtr Baldursson - Musical Performer, Orri Hardarson - Musical Performer, Gordon MacPhail - Post Production Supervisor, M.J. Tirol Magbanua - Production Coordinator, Daniel Boxer - Properties Master, Martin Oswin - Re-Recording Mixer, Mary Cybulski - Script Supervisor, Peter Thorell - Second Assistant Director, Drew Jiritano - Special Effects Coordinator, Andrew Plain - Supervising Sound Editor, Sarah Dowland - Visual Effects Producer, Soundelux - ADR Recordist, Linda Murdoch - Dialogue Editor, Mario Vaccaro - Foley Artist, Lori Guidroz - Key Hairstylist, Neal Martz - Key Make-up, Heather Grierson - Second Second Assistant Director, Peter Thorell - Second Unit Assistant Director, Animal Logic Film - Visual Effects, Susanna Moore - Book Author, Angela Pelizzari - Title Design, Anthony Fassilis - Title Design, Andrew Brown - Title Design
Frannie (Meg Ryan) is a lonely New York City high school English teacher, who is compiling a dictionary of urban slang with the help of one of her students. Frannie "discovers the darker side of passion"[1] after becoming involved with a tough homicidedetective investigating a series of murders in her neighborhood. As the plot develops, she begins to wonder if the detective (Mark Ruffalo) might be the murderer, but remains curious and passionately interested in him. When Frannie's younger half-sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is decapitated by the murderer, her doubts about the detective increase, despite her inability to distance herself from him. Finally convinced of his guilt, Frannie runs away from the detective, only to fall deeper into the web of the murderer.
Campion's screenplay changes the ending of the story.
Nicole Kidman and Jane Campion spent five years developing the film. This is Kidman's producing debut. Nicole Kidman was originally cast as Frannie, but dropped out because she was divorcing and needed more time with her children; Meg Ryan was hired.
Nudity and sex scenes
The unrated version is notorious for a scene of apparent unsimulatedfellatio witnessed by Meg Ryan's character, although it was later revealed in the film commentary that the actress fellated a dildo. The film is noted for being the first time actress Meg Ryan appears fully nude in a film. Actor Mark Ruffalo is also noted for exposing his penis for a brief moment after his character performs oral sex on Meg Ryan.
Cultural references
In the Cut is referenced in the 2007Judd Apatow film Knocked Up citing all the moments where Meg Ryan appears nude.
The film is also referenced in the Family Guy episode, I Take Thee, Quagmire. Stewie, trying to give up breast milk, says, "I rented In the Cut. Meg Ryan topless. No thanks."
