Meg Ryan plays an unfamiliar role in the new Screen Gems film “In the Cut.” Her performance as Franny Avery, a high school English teacher in New York City, marks a drastic change from her work in the wholesome, intelligent, witty romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “Addicted to Love.” In contrast to those movies, “In the Cut” is a suspense thriller containing an abundance of graphic sex scenes and unclear themes.
The director, Jane Campion (“The Piano,” “The Portrait of a Lady”), tries to use the question of who will sleep with whom to hold the audience’s attention. Although this does lead to passionate sex scenes, the many unbelievable turns in the plot and the underdeveloped characters and relationships lead to an unfulfilling movie-going experience.
The movie is summed up by one of the opening lines, “Slang is either about violence or sex.” “In the Cut” is about violence and especially sex. In one of the first scenes, Ryan meets with one of her students in a bar. She suddenly gets up to use the bathroom and, incredibly, manages to stumble into the basement. As she peers around a corner she sees a man and a woman engaging in a sex act. Although it is so dark in the basement that Ryan cannot see the man’s face, she is somehow able to see a tattoo on his wrist. She later sees the same tattoo on the wrist of a police detective, played by Mark Ruffalo, when he comes to question her about a murder in the neighborhood.
Ryan’s character soon finds herself questioning whether Ruffalo may have actually committed the murder himself. Her suspicions are magnified when she finds the head of her sister, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a bloody plastic bag. Nevertheless, Ryan and Ruffalo ensue on a sexual escapade after only their second meeting.
At first, it appears that there could be some very dynamic relationships: teacher and student; brain (teacher) vs. brawn (police); a woman and her scorned lover. But these possibilities fall away. The scorned lover, played by Kevin Bacon, is first heard through a phone message he leaves for Ryan, demanding an explanation for why she will not speak with him after sleeping with him twice. The few encounters between Bacon and Ryan are intense and real. Unfortunately, this relationship is used only to show how quickly Ryan moves from one sexual partner to the next. I would have liked to see more of Ryan and Bacon together.
“In the Cut” does offer some entertaining interactions of music and cinema, mostly during the scenes when Meg Ryan is dreaming. The dream states are depicted as something from a 1920s silent movie. The speed of the film is increased, making the actors’ movements sharp and distinct, in strong contrast to the lullaby sound of the music. Changes in the volume of the music give the feeling of falling in and out of sleep. The work here is excellent. You really feel how haunting dreams can become.
But despite these sequences, most viewers will find themselves asking, “Is this a porno?” They will also wonder what point the movie is trying to make. Is it about trust? Ryan will not let Ruffalo in her door at first, but shortly afterward she is in bed with him. I seriously doubt it is about solving murders — everyone is too busy having sex to worry about murders. And although the dream states are visually stimulating, it is hard to see their importance to the film as a whole.
In the end it is possible that “In the Cut” just tried to do too much. Focusing on the suspense-thriller aspect or on showing the struggle that women and men face to be sexually satisfied may have worked. In fact, emphasizing any of the topics that this movie briefly touches on could have worked. But as it is, the focus is too diffuse for this movie to be worthwhile.
Michael McAllister can be contacted at [email protected]