Parents' Guide to

In the Cut

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Weak plot with grisly middle; should've been NC-17.

Movie R 2003 119 minutes
In the Cut Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 18+

Based on 2 parent reviews

doctora
doctora Parent of 6-year-old
May 10, 2023
age 18+

Campion's film attempts a different style of gaze in this sex-filled thriller

This film swings big and the tone is unlike what we see in most films. Campion's gaze is such that we are forced to observe things from Ryan's point of view, from Leigh's point of view and it is not always a direct line. It is obscured and oblique and constantly shifting. Campion attempts to deconstruct the patriarchal gaze so that we have a different cinematic experience. It's a big swing, but ultimately a satisfying one.
Sadman
Sadman Adult
September 3, 2016
age 18+

Not for kids or teens especially the unrated version

I've never seen the rated version of this but the uncut version was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films (co-produced by Nicole Kidman yet) to feature on-camera fellatio. (The DVD commentary confirms it was a prosthetic but that doesn't really matter given how it's shot.) That's enough to put the film totally out of range for kids and teens. Even Fifty Shade of Grey never went there. As a film marketed as an "erotic drama" sex scenes are to be expected, but there is no storytelling reason for being that explicit.

This title has:

Too much sex
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

IN THE CUT centers on Franny (Meg Ryan), an English professor who is deeply moved by words. She drinks in the scraps of poetry on the subway placards. She writes down the latest slang terms she hears from her students. And when a police detective (Mark Ruffalo) comes to ask whether she saw anything on the night of a murder, she writes down a word he used to describe the body: "disarticulated." But she holds her own words in, communicating very little to anyone except for her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Franny and the detective begin an intensely charged affair, but they know very little about each other, and the very intensity in the midst of the investigation of a series of brutal murders makes them pull away from each other. Franny even begins to wonder whether the detective may be the killer. Threats loom all around her, including a needy ex-boyfriend (Kevin Bacon) and a student (Sharrieff Pugh) who seems interested in a much closer relationship.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (2):

Meg Ryan sheds more than her clothes in this would-be steamy thriller. She sheds her twinkle. We don't get the nose-wrinkling smile. No adorable befuddlement. No irresistible misting of the eyes. Unfortunately, that leaves her -- and us -- with not much of a performance. And unfortunately the script leaves us with not much of a movie.

Director Jane Campion uses arty tricks like a hand-held camera and a rust-colored cast to the settings to try to make the movie about something deeper, perhaps dreamlike, or nightmarish. But it just feels incoherent. The verbal and physical encounters that are supposed to be dark and sexy are just flat. Ryan can handle dramatic roles, as she showed in When a Man Loves a Woman and Flesh and Bone. But she does not have enough to work with in the affectless Franny. The story itself is just weak, with an especially dopey ending that seems grafted on from another movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the importance of Franny's story about how her parents got engaged. How did the director use the way the camera moved and the color schemes of the settings to help tell the story?

Movie Details

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