IF FILM studies lecturers were running out of sufficiently complex material for their students to analyse, they'll be rubbing their hands with glee when they see this movie.

Indeed, even if you aren't a film studies student, you're unlikely to really enjoy In the Cut if you're not prepared to put on your analytical hat. Oh, and while you're at it, you might as well dig out your suspension of disbelief and willingness to grant artistic licence because, believe me, you're going to need them.

Although this film has a thriller plot - women are being brutally murdered and dismembered - its style and pace belong to a different genre altogether.

Indeed, although the film's heroine Frannie (Meg Ryan) becomes caught up in the violent killings, the story isn't really about the crimes but about her emotional journey and difficulty connection with people.

In terms of the story, the murders feel like a means to an ends - forcing Frannie to confront her demons and throwing her together with another emotional car wreck - Detective Malloy (Mark Ruffalo).

Presumably for this reason, director Jane Campion has jettisoned a certain amount of realism, which can be jarring. This is particularly the case with the police work, much of which is totally unbelievable.

If you're the kind of person who has to nudge the your companion and say 'but that would never happen,' you may want to wait until this film comes out on video.

But if you're prepared to accept that this is a story, not an unfolding of real-life events, you'll find In the Cut moving, thought-provoking and, dare I say it, deep.

Meg Ryan is wonderfully strong yet vulnerable in the lead role. Her performance as a woman with a lot of issues really makes the film.

This is a very visual movie, with bold colours, blurred corners and shaky camera-work indicating Frannie's tension and fear.

It also has some very visceral sex scenes which may raise a few eyebrows, but their realism makes a refreshing change from the typical airbrushed Hollywood love scene.

In these times of franchise films with meaningless sequels turned out to make a quick dollar, a challenging film with a bit of depth and meaning is a breath of fresh air.

Occasionally the film seems as if it's being too deliberately clever - for instance the unsubtle references to Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse - but there is enough real cleverness here for you to let it off.

Rating: 8/10