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Susanna Moore

2025-10-07T19:19:39Z

2600:4040:2866:5200:5CD:1A4D:2B6B:F292:

{{short description|American writer and teacher (born 1945)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name = Susanna Moore
| image = Susanna Moore by David Shankbone.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Moore at the 2007 [[Brooklyn Book Festival]]
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1945|12|9}}
| birth_place = [[Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Writer
* actress
* production designer
* costume designer
}}
| nationality = American
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|William J. Langelier|1966|1967|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Richard Sylbert|1972|1978|end=div}}
}}
|partner = [[Michael Laughlin]]<br>(1980s–1990s)
| children = 1
| period =
| education = [[Punahou School]]
| genre =
| subject =
| influences =
| influenced =
| signature =
| website = [http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=21133 www,randomhouse.com]
}}
'''Susanna Moore''' (born December 9, 1945) is an American writer and teacher. Born in Pennsylvania but raised in Hawaii, Moore worked as a model and script reader in Los Angeles and New York City before beginning her career as a writer. Her first novel, ''My Old Sweetheart'', published in 1982, earned a [[Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award|PEN Hemingway]] nomination, and won the Prize for First Fiction from the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]. She followed this with ''The Whiteness of Bones'' in 1989, and her third novel, ''Sleeping Beauties'', in 1993. All three of these novels were set in Hawaii and charted dysfunctional family relationships.

Moore gained particular critical notice for her fourth novel, ''[[In the Cut (novel)|In the Cut]]'' (1995), which marked a departure from her previous works in both setting and content, concerning an English professor in New York City who has a sexual affair with a detective investigating violent murders and dismemberments in her neighborhood. It was adapted into a 2003 [[In the Cut (film)|feature film of the same name]] by director [[Jane Campion]].

==Biography==
Moore was born December 9, 1945, in [[Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania]].<ref name=paarp>{{cite web|url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?sort=date_added_sort%20desc&fq=genre_form_facet%3A%22Photographs%22%20AND%20subject_topic_facet%3A%22Education%22&id=PACSCL_PRIN_MUDD_C1381USNjP|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania]]|title=Susanna Moore Papers, 1940–2019|work=Philadelphia Area Archives Research Portal|access-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref> Shortly after her birth, her family relocated to [[Hawaii]], where she spent her formative years, and attended the [[Punahou School]] in [[Honolulu]].<ref>{{cite web|work=SusannaMoore.com|url=https://www.susannamoore.com/resume|title=Susanna Moore: Resume|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> She is the oldest of seven children, and was raised by her widower father, a physician; her mother died in her childhood.<ref name=rose>{{cite interview|last=Moore|first=Susanna|date=November 30, 1995|interviewer=[[Charlie Rose]]|url=https://charlierose.com/videos/12371|title=Susanna Moore|work=[[The Charlie Rose Show]]}}</ref>

At age seventeen, Moore returned to the mainland United States to live in Philadelphia with her grandmother.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schwarzbaum |first1=Lisa |title=From Hollywood 'Pretty Girl' to Empowered Novelist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/books/review/susanna-moore-miss-aluminum.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=15 April 2020 |date=14 April 2020}}</ref> She later lived in New York City and Los Angeles, working as a model and [[script reader]].<ref name=paarp/> For a time in the late 1960s, she worked as [[Warren Beatty]]'s assistant in California.<ref>Peter Biskind "Star" Warren Beatty Biography</ref> She published her first book, ''My Old Sweetheart'', in 1982, followed by ''The Whiteness of Bones'' in 1989, and ''Sleeping Beauties'' in 1993—all three books, set in her home state of Hawaii, dealt with themes of familial dysfunction.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Publishers Weekly]]|title= In the Cut|date=1995|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-42258-7|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200303200449/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-679-42258-7|archive-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref> For ''My Old Sweetheart'', Moore earned a [[Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award|PEN Hemingway]] nomination, and won the Prize for First Fiction from the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]].<ref name=paarp/>

Her fourth novel, ''[[In the Cut (novel)|In the Cut]]'' (1995), a thriller novel about a professor in New York City who begins a sexual relationship with a detective investigating nearby murders, marked a notable departure from Moore's previous works,<ref name=paarp/> and was adapted into a [[In the Cut (film)|feature film of the same name]] in 2003 by director [[Jane Campion]].

In 1999, she received the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Moore went on to publish two works in 2003: the [[British India]]-set novel ''One Last Look'',<ref name=paarp/> and the non-fiction ''I Myself Have Seen It: The Myth of Hawai‘i'', an autobiographical work that explored Moore's upbringing in Hawaii.

In 2006, Moore received a Fellowship in Literature at the [[American Academy in Berlin]];<ref name="AmAcad06">{{cite web | url=http://www.americanacademy.de/home/person/susanna-moore | title=Citigroup Fellow, Class of Fall 2006 | publisher=American Academy in Berlin | access-date=March 11, 2012 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121230032014/http://www.americanacademy.de/home/person/susanna-moore | archive-date=December 30, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> and in 2006 she received a Fellowship in Literature from the [[Asian Cultural Council]], which entailed a three-month fellowship to research on the [[Meiji Period]] in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Asian Cultural Council]]|title=Susanna Moore|url=https://www.asianculturalcouncil.org/zh-hant/our-work/grantee-database/susanna-moore|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200304081023/https://www.asianculturalcouncil.org/zh-hant/our-work/grantee-database/susanna-moore|archive-date=March 4, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

Moore was a visiting lecturer in Creative Writing at [[Yale University]] in 1988, 1989 and 1994; visiting lecturer at New York Graduate School in 1995; creative writing teacher at the [[Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn]] between 2004 and 2006;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.houseofspeakeasy.org/susanna-moore/|work=House of Speakeasy|title=Susanna Moore|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200304081145/https://www.houseofspeakeasy.org/susanna-moore/|archive-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref> and lecturer of creative writing at [[Princeton University]] between 2007 and 2009. During May to August 2009, Moore was Writer-in-Residence at Australia's [[University of Adelaide]]. As of a 2012 interview, Moore resided in her home state of Hawaii, though she returns to the East Coast each year to teach courses at Princeton University for the fall semester.<ref name=pbs>{{cite web|work=[[KHET|PBS Hawai'i]]|title=Susanna Moore|url=https://www.pbshawaii.org/tag/susanna-moore/|date=June 25, 2019|access-date=March 4, 2020}}</ref>

{{anchor|Lulu Sylbert}}
Moore has a daughter, Lulu, with production designer and art director [[Richard Sylbert]], and later lived with [[Michael Laughlin]].<ref name="nytimes-at-the-movies"/> Lulu acted as a child, playing [[Paul Le Mat]]'s half-alien daughter in ''[[Strange Invaders]]''.<ref name="nytimes-at-the-movies">{{cite news |last1=Chase |first1=Chris |title=AT THE MOVIES |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/16/movies/at-the-movies.html |access-date=6 September 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=16 September 1983 |quote=Miss Moore and Lulu live with Michael Laughlin, co-writer and director of ''Strange Invaders'', and Miss Moore says her career as a designer for movies is an accident. ''Michael liked the way rooms that I lived in looked. I resisted, but he said, 'Yes, you can do it.' '' Having once been married to an Academy Award-winning production designer - Richard Sylbert is Lulu's father - Miss Moore says, ''I'd been around it, but only peripherally''.}}</ref>

==Publications==
===Fiction===
* ''[[My Old Sweetheart]]'' (1982)
* ''[[The Whiteness of Bones]]'' (1989)
* ''[[Sleeping Beauties (Moore novel)|Sleeping Beauties]]'' (1993)
* ''[[In the Cut (novel)|In the Cut]]'' (1995)
* ''[[One Last Look (novel)|One Last Look]]'' (2003)
* ''[[The Big Girls]]'' (2007)
* ''[[The Life of Objects]]'' (2012)
* ''The Lost Wife'' (2023)

===Non-fiction===
* ''[[I Myself Have Seen It: The Myth of Hawai‘i]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Paradise of the Pacific: Approaching Hawai‘i]]'' (2015)
*''Miss Aluminum: A Memoir'' (2020)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Susanna Moore}}
* [http://www.susannamoore.net/ Official site]
* {{IMDb name|601912}}
* [http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?sort=date_added_sort%20desc&fq=genre_form_facet%3A%22Photographs%22%20AND%20subject_topic_facet%3A%22Education%22&id=PACSCL_PRIN_MUDD_C1381USNjP Susanna Moore papers] at the [[University of Pennsylvania]]
* [http://www.laweekly.com/2007-06-14/art-books/susanna-moore-women-behind-bars/ Susanna Moore: Women Behind Bars]
* [http://www.themorningnews.org/article/susanna-moore/ Susanna Moore: The Morning News]
* [http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pwb/volume98/issue19/novelist/ Princeton University: Moore, a graceful novelist, pushes students to be daring]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Susanna}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American memoirists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Novelists from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Punahou School alumni]]
[[Category:American women memoirists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]

In the Cut (film)

2025-10-07T19:10:53Z

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{{Short description|2003 film by Jane Campion}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name = In the Cut
| image = In the cut.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical poster
| director = [[Jane Campion]]
| producer = {{Plainlist|
* [[Nicole Kidman]]
* Laurie Parker
}}
| screenplay = {{Plainlist|
* Jane Campion
* [[Susanna Moore]]
}}
| based_on = {{Based on|''[[In the Cut (novel)|In the Cut]]''|Susanna Moore}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Meg Ryan]]
* [[Mark Ruffalo]]
* [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]]
* [[Nick Damici]]
* Sharrieff Pugh
}}
| music = [[Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson]]
| cinematography = [[Dion Beebe]]
| editing = Alexandre de Franceschi
| studio = [[Pathé|Pathé Productions Ltd]]
| distributor = {{Plainlist|
* [[Screen Gems]] (through [[Sony Pictures Releasing]];<ref>{{cite web|title=In The Cut (2003)|website=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|access-date=21 January 2023|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62778-IN-THECUT?sid=e1dd7672-e143-4988-ae40-b3defd606ba7&sr=6.7806015&cp=2&pos=5}}</ref> United States)
* Pathé Distribution (United Kingdom)
}}
| released = {{Film date|2003|10|22|[[limited release|limited]]|2003|10|31|wide}}
| runtime = 119 minutes
| country = United States <br />United Kingdom<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8846fe87|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160217134944/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8846fe87|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2016|title=In the Cut|website=bfi|access-date=10 October 2022}}</ref>
| language = English
| budget = $12 million<ref name="numbers">{{cite web |title=In the Cut (2003) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/In-the-Cut#tab=summary |website=[[The Numbers (website)|The Numbers]]}}</ref>
| gross = $23.7 million<ref name="mojo" />
}}

'''''In the Cut''''' is a 2003 [[psychological thriller film]] written and directed by [[Jane Campion]] and starring [[Meg Ryan]], [[Mark Ruffalo]], [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] and [[Kevin Bacon]]. Campion's screenplay is an [[Film adaptation|adaptation]] of the [[In the Cut (novel)|1995 novel of the same name]] by [[Susanna Moore]]. The film focuses on an English teacher who becomes personally entangled with a detective investigating a series of gruesome murders in her [[Manhattan]] neighborhood.

The film received a [[limited release]] on October 22, 2003, in the United States, and was subsequently given a [[wide release]] on [[Halloween]] that year in the United States and United Kingdom. The film received mixed reviews from critics upon release. Negative reviews were critical of the story and narrative structure,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Hornaday |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Hornaday |date=31 October 2003 |title='In the Cut': Provocatively Predictable |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/10/31/in-the-cut-provocatively-predictable/02fa9b38-d9ae-4e3a-84fc-66fb7d3738bc/ |access-date=December 3, 2021 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> while positive reviews praised the acting and Campion's visuals.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |author-link=Manohla Dargis |date=22 October 2003 |title=Hot and cold |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-22-et-dargis22-story.html |access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref>

In recent years, the film has undergone a reappraisal for its subversion of the [[male gaze]] and other common movie tropes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Justine |date=30 April 2018 |title=Re-examining the challenging eroticism of In the Cut |url=https://lwlies.com/articles/in-the-cut-jane-campion-erotic-thriller/ |access-date=December 3, 2021 |website=[[Little White Lies (magazine)|Little White Lies]]}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Richard |first=David Evan |date=September 2017 |title=In the Cut (Jane Campion, 2003) |url=https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2017/cteq/in-the-cut/ |access-date=December 3, 2021 |website=[[Senses of Cinema]]}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Vasquez |first=Zach |date=17 November 2021 |title=IN THE CUT: A Secret American Giallo Masterpiece |url=https://www.fangoria.com/original/in-the-cut-a-secret-american-giallo-masterpiece/ |access-date=December 3, 2021 |website=[[Fangoria]] |language=en}}</ref>

==Plot==

Frannie Avery, an introverted writer and English professor in [[New York City]], meets her student Cornelius at a local pub to talk about coursework. He proposes a theory that [[John Wayne Gacy]] may not have been guilty of his crimes, later suggesting that 'desire' was responsible. On her way to the basement bathroom, Frannie witnesses a woman performing [[oral sex]] on a man. Although it is dark, she can see a 3 of [[Spades (suit)|spade]]s tattoo on the man's wrist and the woman's blue fingernails.

Periodically, Frannie reads poems on subway posters that seem to have bearing on her own life.

Several days later, Detective Giovanni Malloy questions Frannie as he investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman whose severed limb was found in Frannie's garden. Frannie is alternately thrilled and frightened by the detective's sexual aggressiveness, even as she grows disillusioned with the sexist attitudes and crude behavior of other men. His partner Richard Rodriguez is one of them, who can no longer carry a gun because he tried to kill his wife.

Frannie questions Malloy about his 3 of spades tattoo, which he says identifies him as a member of a secret club. While walking home from a bar, she is assaulted by a masked stranger. She phones Malloy, and they have passionate sex. Later, she realizes a charm is missing from her bracelet.

The next day, Frannie describes the sexual encounter to her free-spirited half-sister, Pauline, who lives above a [[strip club]]. After Malloy tells Frannie that she and the murder victim were in the same bar the night of the murder, she begins to fear he may be the killer.

Another victim is found dismembered in a washing machine at a school laundry. Frannie accompanies Malloy to a secluded spot along a river, where he teaches her to use a gun. Meanwhile, Cornelius has been taken in for police questioning on suspicion of the murders because his term paper on John Wayne Gacy is illustrated with blood.

Frannie is confronted by her former boyfriend John Graham, who has been stalking her. He tells her he has been having panic attacks and that he wishes to ask Pauline out on a date. She goes to Pauline's apartment, where she has been staying, finding it unlocked and in disarray. In the bathroom, she finds Pauline's severed head in a plastic bag.

After being questioned by Malloy, Frannie gets drunk in her apartment. Cornelius arrives and attempts to rape her, but is interrupted by Detective Rodriguez. Later, Malloy reveals that the killer's 'signature' is leaving a ring on the finger of his victims.

Frannie handcuffs him to a pipe, and they have sex. After discovering that Malloy has her missing charm and a key to Pauline's apartment, she confronts him about his tattoo and suggests that he is the [[serial killer]]. She takes Malloy's jacket and gun, leaving him handcuffed, and is met by Rodriguez outside. He persuades her to get into his unmarked police car.

Rodriguez drives Frannie to the [[Little Red Lighthouse]] below the [[George Washington Bridge]]. She tells him that it reminds her of a book she teaches, ''[[To the Lighthouse]]''. Frannie notices Rodriguez has the same tattoo as Malloy. Rodriguez presents a ring on the end of a knife and asks Frannie to marry him.

Realizing that Rodriguez is the killer, Frannie shoots him with Malloy's gun. He attempts to strangle her, but she fires the gun again, killing him. Bloodied, she walks back to her apartment and lies down with Malloy, who is still cuffed to the pipe where she left him.

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Meg Ryan]] as Frannie Avery
* [[Mark Ruffalo]] as Detective Giovanni A. Malloy
* [[Jennifer Jason Leigh]] as Pauline Avery
* [[Kevin Bacon]] as John Graham
* [[Nick Damici]] as Detective Richard Rodriguez
* [[Patrice O'Neal]] as Hector
* Sharrieff Pugh as Cornelius Webb
* Heather Litteer as Angela Sands
}}

==Production==
Laurie Parker and [[Jane Campion]] spent five years developing the film.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |date=26 October 2003 |title=She's happily unruly |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-26-ca-dargis26-story.html |access-date=December 3, 2021}}</ref> [[Nicole Kidman]] got a producer credit because she was originally cast as Frannie, but dropped out because she was getting a divorce and needed more time with her children.<ref name=":0" /> This film was executive produced by [[Effie T. Brown]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.filmindependent.org/people/effie-t-brown/|title=Effie T. Brown - Film Independent|work=Film Independent|access-date=January 19, 2018 }}</ref> in association with Sony Screen Gems and Pathé International.

==Box office==
''In the Cut'' grossed $1,666,830 at the box office in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://film.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/AA4_Aust_Box_office_report.pdf |title=''Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office'' |access-date= November 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218045303/http://film.vic.gov.au/resources/documents/AA4_Aust_Box_office_report.pdf |archive-date= February 18, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The total worldwide gross of ''In the Cut'' was $23,726,793.<ref name="mojo">{{cite web |title=In the Cut |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=inthecut.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] }}</ref>

==Reception==
'''Contemporary'''

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has a score of 35% based on reviews from 179 critics and an average rating of 4.9/10; the consensus reads: "Jane Campion takes a stab at subverting the psycho-sexual thriller genre with ''In the Cut'', but gets tangled in her own abstraction."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_cut/ |title=In the Cut |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]] |access-date=March 30, 2025 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based on reviews from 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-the-cut |title=In the Cut Reviews |website=[[Metacritic]] |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |access-date=March 10, 2020 }}</ref> [[CinemaScore]] gave it a rating of "F" based on surveys from general audiences.<ref name="avc">{{Cite web |url=https://www.avclub.com/is-an-f-from-cinemascore-actually-a-good-thing-our-c-1842666687 |title=Is an "F" from CinemaScore Actually a Good Thing? Our Critics Weigh In |last1=Dowd |first1=A. A. |last2=Rife |first2=Katie |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |date=April 3, 2020 |access-date=April 3, 2020 |archive-date=April 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200406071400/https://film.avclub.com/is-an-f-from-cinemascore-actually-a-good-thing-our-c-1842666687 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Todd McCarthy]] of [[Variety (magazine)|''Variety'']] wrote: "Beautifully crafted and highlighted by an arresting change-of-pace [performance] by Meg Ryan as an English teacher erotically awakened by a homicide detective. But the story's unpalatable narrative holes and dramatic missteps will hold sway over the pic's better qualities."<ref>{{cite web|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|author-link=Todd McCarthy|date=9 September 2003|title=In the Cut|url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117921784|website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref>
Noel Murray of ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' wrote: "Though the oppressive artiness makes the early scenes fairly ridiculous, the director's odd methods add rare tension to the climax, as it becomes evident that the finale won't be so predictable in Campion's hands."<ref>{{cite web |date=2003|author=Noel Murray |author-link=Noel Murray |title=In The Cut |url=https://www.avclub.com/in-the-cut-1798198999 |website=[[The A.V. Club]] |publisher=[[The Onion]] }}</ref>

In a positive review for the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', [[Manohla Dargis]] wrote “the film is filled with surreal, hothouse flourishes that tell the story as vividly and often more eloquently than either the plot mechanics or dialogue”, adding that it “may be the most maddening and imperfect great movie of the year”.<ref name=":2" /> [[Mick LaSalle]] of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' said although ''In the Cut'' “falls short of the masterpiece Campion intended, it's unquestionably the most ambitious and important film to come along in months”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=LaSalle |first=Mick |author-link=Mick LaSalle |date=2003-10-31 |title=Sordid sex in the city, mixed with plenty of ennui, make for potent cocktail |url=https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Sordid-sex-in-the-city-mixed-with-plenty-of-2551341.php |access-date=December 3, 2021 |website=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Ann Hornaday]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' wrote although the film was flawed as a thriller, <blockquote>it's not such a write-off as a [[Drive theory|psychosexual]] portrait of a certain kind of single Manhattan woman at the turn of the new century. With its restless, jittery camera, the movie captures the jangly paranoia of a city that is often equally tantalizing and threatening; Frannie responds in kind, with her own contradictory sexual persona, which at certain times is defiantly autonomous and at others almost timidly girlish. A ''[[Looking for Mr. Goodbar (film)|Looking for Mr. Goodbar]]'' for the [[post-9/11]] age (the remnants of that tragedy form one of the movie's many visual leitmotifs), ''In the Cut'' focuses on the darker face of the classic New York romance. It's a face that's grimly credible, if seldom seen. Within an otherwise flawed, forgettable movie, Campion has managed to offer a vivid, if fleeting, glimpse of the wariness, self-deception and fear that shadow so many illicit thrills of sex in the city.<ref name=":1" /></blockquote>Hornaday also singled out Ruffalo's performance, writing the actor is “unsettlingly convincing as a man whose sexual magnetism lies not in leading-man good looks but in his ability to portray himself as both a protector and, if the situation warrants, a predator”.<ref name=":1" />
''In the Cut'' was among the films discussed favorably by [[Slavoj Žižek]] in ''[[The Pervert's Guide to Cinema]]'' (2006).<ref>{{cite web |last=Gottlieb |first=Akiva |date=August 24, 2011 |title=Shelf Life: Jane Campion reconsidered. |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/shelf-life-13/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150819231350/https://www.thenation.com/article/shelf-life-13/ |archive-date=2015-08-19 |accessdate=January 6, 2017 |website=[[The Nation (magazine)|The Nation]]}}</ref>

'''Retrospective'''

In the years since ''In the Cut''<nowiki/>'s original release, the film has been reexamined and praised as a [[Feminism|feminist]] [[erotic thriller]]. Critics noted how Campion emphasizes female agency and pleasure, and subverts many tropes of the genre such as the [[femme fatale]] archetype and the [[male gaze]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Kristen Yoonsoo |date=5 February 2018 |title=Meg Ryan Once Starred in an Erotic Thriller Made for and by Women |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/meg-ryan-in-the-cut-erotic-thriller-for-and-by-women/ |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[Vice (website)|Vice]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Roarty |first=Margaret |date=13 November 2020 |title='In the Cut' and How Marriage Can Kill You, Actually |url=https://www.thefilmagazine.com/in-the-cut-and-how-marriage-can-kill-you-actually/ |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=The Film Magazine}}</ref> Writing for ''[[Thrillist]]'', Jourdain Searles said the film is<blockquote>a story about women being hunted, from their vantage point for once. Shots depicting Frannie being watched mainly serve to highlight how women have to navigate the world under the gaze of men. Frannie is always looking over her shoulder, constantly assessing her surroundings. She knows she is being watched, yet continues to pursue pleasure on her own terms. In the end, once Frannie has faced her worst fears, ''In the Cut'' rewards that bravery.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Searles |first=Jourdain |date=9 January 2019 |title=Meg Ryan's 'In the Cut' Is the Most Underrated Erotic Thriller of the 21st Century |url=https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/in-the-cut-movie-review-meg-ryan |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[Thrillist]] |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

''In the Cut'' has also been interpreted as a deconstruction of fantasies of romance,<ref name=":3" /> particularly the idealization of marriage.<ref name=":5" /> Writing for ''[[Fangoria]]'', Zach Vasquez said the film succeeds at both combining "the lurid aesthetic of [[Mario Bava|Bava]]/[[Dario Argento|Argento]] with a modern examination of violent [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] power dynamics",<ref name=":4" /> citing Campion's "use of speed ramping, slow motion, lens flares, and more".<ref name=":4" /> [[Nick James (critic)|Nick James]] placed ''In the Cut'' at No. 3 in ''[[Sight & Sound]]''<nowiki/>'s list of twenty-first century noir films, writing "it’s the way that Campion, in scene after scene, juxtaposes powerful female desire with vulnerability that makes ''In the Cut'' a unique [[Film noir|noir]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=James |first=Nick |author-link=Nick James (critic) |date=27 November 2020 |title=Twenty-first century noir |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/deep-focus/twenty-first-century-noir |access-date=December 6, 2021 |website=[[Sight & Sound]] |language=en}}</ref> Film critic [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] has also called the film a masterpiece,<ref>{{cite web|last=Schwarzbaum|first=Lisa|author-link=Lisa Schwarzbaum|date=December 6, 2013|title=David Thomson's 'Moments That Made the Movies'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/books/review/david-thomsons-moments-that-made-the-movies.html|access-date=January 6, 2017|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> and, in his book ''Moments That Made the Movies'', hails it as "one of the great films of the twenty-first century."<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=David|title=Moments That Made the Movies|date=2014|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0500516416|page=277}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0199626|In the Cut}}
* {{mojo title|inthecut|In the Cut}}
*[https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2021/02/in-the-cut-2003-jane-campion-meg-ryan-review ''How In the Cut offers a disturbing look at the dark side of desire''] by Philippa Snow at ''[[New Statesman|The New Statesman]]''

{{Jane Campion}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:In The Cut}}
[[Category:2003 films]]
[[Category:2000s erotic thriller films]]
[[Category:2000s feminist films]]
[[Category:2000s serial killer films]]
[[Category:2003 independent films]]
[[Category:2000s mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:2003 psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:American erotic romance films]]
[[Category:American erotic thriller films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:American mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Australian erotic thriller films]]
[[Category:Australian independent films]]
[[Category:Australian mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:British serial killer films]]
[[Category:Erotic mystery films]]
[[Category:Erotic romance films]]
[[Category:Films about educators]]
[[Category:American serial killer films]]
[[Category:Films about sexuality]]
[[Category:Films about writers]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films based on mystery novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jane Campion]]
[[Category:Films produced by Nicole Kidman]]
[[Category:Films scored by Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films shot in New York City]]
[[Category:Screen Gems films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s American films]]
[[Category:2000s British films]]
[[Category:English-language mystery thriller films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]
[[Category:English-language crime films]]
[[Category:English-language erotic thriller films]]