Betty (film)

Betty is a 1992 French psychological drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on the 1961 novel of the same title by Georges Simenon. The film stars Marie Trintignant and Stéphane Audran, with Jean-François Garreaud, Yves Lambrecht, Christiane Minazzoli and Pierre Vernier. It was released in France on 19 February 1992 by MK2 Diffusion.[2]

Betty
Theatrical release poster
Directed byClaude Chabrol
Written byClaude Chabrol
Based onBetty
by Georges Simenon
Produced byMarin Karmitz
Starring
CinematographyBernard Zitzermann
Edited byMonique Fardoulis
Music byMatthieu Chabrol
Production
companies
Distributed byMK2 Diffusion
Release date
  • 19 February 1992 (1992-02-19) (France)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryFrance[1]
LanguageFrench

Plot

Betty, a young alcoholic woman, is caught cold while cheating on her bourgeois husband. Wasting no time, he and his family arrange a quick divorce settlement, ousting her from home and keeping her away from the two children the couple have. One night she ends up in a restaurant called Le Trou (The Hole), where she meets Laure, an older woman, an alcoholic herself. Laure decides to take care of Betty after hearing the heart-breaking stories of her being a victim of her husband's rich and ruthless high society family. Betty receives care and friendship from Laure, who's in a relationship with Mario, the restaurant's owner. Betty's envy toward Laure, especially regarding her relationship with Mario, grows each day and eventually drives Betty to contrive the means to conquer her new friend's lover. Laure realizes she has made a mistake by trusting Betty, and things soon begin to fall apart between them. Betty's true colors are now visible and she sees her life at a point of no return, as she has selfishly stomped on the last chance she had of being a better person.

Cast

Reception

Lawrence O'Toole of Entertainment Weekly rated the film a B+, calling it "[d]isturbing, compelling, and very smart" and praising Trintignant's performance as "smashing".[3] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert described the film as a story of intertwined surprises, a film that doesn't have a plot per se. The story is a chain reaction of events as this is the story of a woman who keeps tripping over her own faults and reckless behavior.[4] Megan Rosenfeld of The Washington Post felt that Trintignant "brings little to the role beyond her beauty, including a curvaceous figure (fully visible)."[5] John Simon of the National Review, in addition to praising the performances of Trintignant and Audran, described Betty as "one of the most well-behavedly bone-chilling horror stories of all time".[6]

References
  1. "Betty". Le Figaro. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  2. "Betty de Claude Chabrol (1992)" (in French). Unifrance. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  3. O'Toole, Lawrence (18 November 1994). "Video Review: "Betty"". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 20 May 2007.
  4. Ebert, Roger (1 October 1993). "Betty". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 13 June 2023 – via RogerEbert.com.
  5. Rosenfeld, Megan (15 September 1993). "'Betty'". The Washington Post.
  6. Simon, John (2005). John Simon on Film: Criticism, 1982–2001. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 387. ISBN 978-1-5578-3507-9.


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