In the Cut

Before watching Jane Campion’s In The Cut I prepared myself to see intense blood and gore and very graphic sex scenes. But I wasn’t that taken aback while watching the film. The only weird part was having to watch Meg Ryan play the role and really break down her typical “America’s sweetheart” status. The film was beautifully shot and watching the movie almost felt like reading a book because all of the symbolism that took place. Certain images were random and I couldn’t figure out what they meant, like the bride and groom in the subway. I felt as if Campion was trying to make me focus on a certain object from the way that the camera was placed. When Frannie and Pauline were in their room the camera focused in on Frannie holding the red shoes. When Frannie was leaving the bar the camera didn’t focus centrally on her walking out the door, instead the camera was placed behind a teddy bear that you had to look past in order to focus on the main character. Also certain shots made it seem as if we were looking though Frannie’s eyes, especially when she was reading poetry on the metro. The shots were blurry like she didn’t have her glasses on. Other shots that looked as if they came from Frannie’s point of view were glances out of the window at people on the street or looking around corners to see if detective Malloy was there. There were so many red things in this movie that I didn’t know what to make of it. Certain red things were obvious, like John Graham’s red hat and coat, the red turtle, the mom flower thing in the subway, pauline’s red shoes, or the overall red glow. Other images of red seemed more subtle like When Frannie put the detective’s card on her door she used a red tack, her teapot was red, on her dresser the lamp was red, there was a red vase and some red underwear was hanging out of the drawer. Red can mean anything from power, violence, or romance. Campion's use of the color did draw my attention and really made certain images stand out. Overall In the Cut definitely shows Jane Campion’s progression as a filmmaker.