"A Girl Cut in Two" has no red velvet swing but an opening credit sequence tinted blood red, a television interviewer in a red spaghetti-strap top in front of a red backdrop, and a red dress worn on a fateful day.

In Frenchman Claude Chabrol's "A Girl Cut in Two," a blond weathergirl named Gabrielle Deneige (Ludivine Sagnier) inspires a crime of passion and society scandal, much as Evelyn Nesbit did. She was the original "It Girl" in the red velvet swing who moved men to murder and further madness in 1906.

Gabrielle capitalizes on her youth and sunny sex appeal as she delivers forecasts; she clearly hopes the weather is a stepping stone to a more prominent television gig. It's at the station where she first encounters a famous, if reclusive, author named Charles Saint-Denis (Francois Berleand).

The pair meet again in a bookstore where his passion for wordplay and women is obvious. He invites Gabrielle to an auction even as she attracts the attention of a handsome spoiled playboy, Paul Gaudens (Benoit Magimel).

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'A Girl Cut in Two'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

• Starring: Ludivine Sagnier, Francois Berleand, Benoit Magimel
• Rating: Not rated but adult in nature. In French with English subtitles.
• Web site: www.ifcfilms.com

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When Gaudens asks Gabrielle to a party with the jet set, she begs off. "Don't pressure me. I hate that."

Little does she know the pressure that awaits as she falls under the spell of Saint-Denis, who repeatedly calls his wife of 25 years "an angel" but strays nonetheless. Paul, whose mental and legal problems have been swept under the rug courtesy of chilly mummy and the family fortune, pursues Gabrielle as well, to a tragic end.

Chabrol, often compared to Alfred Hitchcock and here employing a blonde as his "girl cut in two," freights dialogue, set-ups, framing and details (a rare edition of "The Woman and the Puppet" is on the auction block) with multiple meanings.

Mirrors provide more than simple reflection and women often come in pairs, as Saint-Denis dines with his wife and publisher, both slavishly and nauseatingly adoring. "I wonder if French society isn't drifting toward Puritanism or decadence," the gray-haired author tells an ill-prepared interviewer in a prelude of what's to come.

The director, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cecile Maistre, toys with illusions, secret places and desires and the games people -- especially the wealthy -- play.

With the possible exception of Gabrielle's clear-eyed, supportive mother, "Girl" features characters who are easier to loathe than like. But Chabrol manages to reinvent a century-old scandal in a seductive, sly way.

Opens at the Regent Square Theater on Friday.