The Cutting

The Cutting, an experimental thriller, is a blood-curdling balancing exercise between humour and horror. Three young men experience what it’s like when reality starts to wilt. How can you have any faith in anything you ever learned and believed if you see with your own eyes that persistent reality is no more than an illusion? What happens if reality starts to fall apart in such a way that it no longer obeys the laws we impose on it? And what if there are no laws at all, if everything is pure chance?There are three protagonists, Frank, Paul and Wout, there is a car crash and a wood at night-time. Apart from that, the viewer has to make do with philosophical themes and dialogues which include abstract themes (such as the idea that people can be divided into victims, attackers and carers) as well as reflections on how the Spice Girls are related to the Village People, Anna Kournikova to Michael Schumacher and other considerations about culture, pop culture and trivia. The film was shot entirely on digital video and, for a change, this medium ensures that reality looks even more nerve racking and confusing than it would with smooth 35mm photography.