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DVD Betty Blue (Unrated Director's Cut)
Sex and sunlight are on ample display in Betty Blue, director Jean-Jacques Beineix's passionate look at mad love. (Every French director is contractually required to make at least one movie about l'amour fou.) It begins at the seashore, where handyman and failed novelist Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) has his life electrified by Betty, a woman whose sense of abandon frequently tips over into the pathological. This was the role that introduced gap-toothed, voluptuous Beatrice Dalle to the world, and neither Dalle nor the world has ever quite recovered. Traces of Beineix's preciousDiva are still present, though this is a darker and more memorable ride, especially in the three-hour "version integrale" that restores an hour of footage. Its copious nude scenes are a drawing card, but stick around for the age-old alchemy of life translated into art. Gabriel Yared's score is a favorite of movie-soundtrack mavens, especially its haunting piano theme. --Robert Horton
Review(s): DVD Betty Blue (Unrated Director's Cut)
KINDA FRENCH
YOU MUST APPRECIATE THE FRENCH FILM.I CAN'T REMEMBER MUCH OF THE MOVIE AND WILL BE PASSING IT ON TO SOMEONE WHO LOVES THE STYLE.THANKS
Sexy and Undemanding
If Betty Blue is intended as a satire of certain tendencies present within the French cinema since at least the nouvelle vague - what I think we should call the Marianne Tendency in particular - it is very successful. But otherwise, there's a lingering suspicion that it just doesn't add up.
It is a beautifully photographed, well-acted tragi-comedy that in its shorter form was nominated for an academy award for best foreign film. And there's little doubt that Beatrice Dalle as Betty is both a talented actress and easy on the eye.
But there can also be little doubt that the director's cut is over-indulgent, and that the main thrust of the story gets lost with all the additional scenes, that may flesh out the characters but contribute little to (what passes as a) plotline.
The Marianne Tendency - named for the female personification of the Fifth Republic in France, who is to be found in bust-form in many villages and towns across that great country - is the French (male) director's attempt to definitively sum up French womanhood in one film, in one character. Most director's take on French womanhood - think of Rivette's La Belle Noiseuse, or Godard's Le Mepris - is that it is unknoweable, mysterious, confusing, illogical... but enchanting, and always, but always good to look at. Rivette has Emmanuelle Beart, Godard had Brigitte Bardot, and here Bieneix has the rather mesmering Dalle.
Now, if Bieneix is satirising this tendency by showing Betty's decline into insanity then he's doing a good, if rather twisted, job. If we're supposed to follow Betty Blue as a drama it's somewhat less successful, as it manages to be both incidental (There's no real plot here, things just happen one after the other) and implausible (Although Betty's madness is hinted at, when it finally arrives in full form the switch is rather sudden.)
Either way, the suspicion is that Betty Blue makes a rather better poster than it does a film. This is by no means a classic of the cinema, and the fact that it was unavailable (Thanks to lengthy legal battles) for so long has done nothing to increase its potency.
That said it is not unenjoyable. The cinematography is easy on the eye, as is Dalle both dressed and (as she seems to be rather more often) undressed. And as long as you accept that it really isn't going anywhere in particular it can be an enjoyable - if still rather too long - journey; one that does not require a great deal of attention or concentration. It has some fine comic moments in it, and both leads are likeable. Jean-Hugues Anglade provides the central male character, the man who is captured by the femme fatale Betty, a man with the unlikely name of Zorg (who was possibly also a character in one of the Superman films.)
Jean-Luc Godard often repeated DW Griffith's maxim that all you needed to make a movie was a pretty girl and a gun. Bieneix has attempted to do it without the gun, and for the most part manages to hold our attention, even if it is ultimately rather meaningless and a touch pretentious.
Still, it's quite sexy and undemanding and probably worthy of your attention, just don't expect a life-changing cinematic experience.
Betty Blue will most certainly make many shake their heads will thinking why all the nudeness, is this really necessary, and so on and so forth. In the American society violence is almost a must for the cable stations that display drama. The violence is depicted through shootings, killings, and other disturbing images. For some reason violence appears more acceptable than nakedness and sexuality that is so vividly expressed in Betty Blue. Interestingly, American youth learn more about violence through history and social science than they learn about sexuality in sex education, if they are allowed to have it. Anyway, it is natural to be born naked and it is natural to undressed when making love with a loved one, which often transcends the emotional feelings between two loving individuals. Betty Blue transcends the audience through nakedness and existence into a natural state of love when uninterrupted.
Jean-Jacques Beineix's film opens with a complete shot where the two main characters, Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and Betty (Béatrice Dalle), are making love on a bed. It is obvious that they both have strong feelings for one another as both slowly build up their sexual arousal until it peaks with an emotional and physical explosion that slowly ebbs out. When the orgasm fades away they continue to embrace one another in a very affectionate and caring manner. It is a very warm and personal scene expressing the strong feelings that rest within both Zorg and Betty. The scene has class in its detailed imagery of love making without exploiting the situation or crossing the border into pornography.
At the end of the opening scene where Zorg gently kisses Betty, he says, "I had known Betty for a week. We screwed every night. The forecast was for storms." These storms that Zorg mentions will erupt sporadically with a climbing intensity. The first brief storm arrives when Zorg works at a beach resort while living in one of the 500 beach bungalows that his boss forces him to paint by himself. An impossible task for one person, but Zorg conforms to his boss's wish. When Betty finds out that he is suppose to paint all bungalows she goes on a brief rampage throwing stuff out while discovering one of Zorg's personal achievements, a novel. She reads it and determines that he is a brilliant writer that should focus on writing, but Zorg simply puts it off as he lacks the personal confidence.
The film continues to climb to its crescendo in a similar way of an orgasm. Evidently, there is something wrong with Betty, but Zorg stands firm next to her ready to support or defend her if necessary. She is the only thing that has made him feel good in life, and he is not willing to part from her. As Betty clings on to him, he clings on to her. Their affection for one another continues to develop throughout the film where they become very comfortable and open about each other. However, Betty's behavior becomes erratically violent whenever she feels pressured or helpless. Despite the increasingly violent eruptions that Betty demonstrates Zorg denies what it is abnormal and dangerous, as he continues to do everything within his means to help her in his own way.
The film delivers a multidimensional story of love, but many of the audience members might focus on the nudeness in the film. The nakedness is not an unique incident in art history and should therefore not blind the audience. Instead, the audience should embrace the nudeness as a normal part of the process of sexual love between two lovers. Besides the natural nudeness there are aspects of love such as care, affection, support, joy, communication, and the occasional disagreements. After all, love never is perfect from the beginning, as it is something people must continuously work on in order to keep it intact despite ups and downs in life.
In this tragedy Beineix explores agony and joy of love through the camera lens and his caring way of framing scenes. The care presents itself in how the characters are lined up in the scenes as well though the mise-en-scene, which provides additional elements that enhance themes within the film. In addition, the camera movement and editing displays moments of genius. For example, there is a brief scene with Betty standing on a bridge over a railway where a train is coming full speed towards the train while the camera is panning toward the right. This scene induces the feeling that the train will crash into her, even though it is obvious that the train will safely pass. Nonetheless, the scene suggests an inner turmoil within Betty in a very symbolical manner.
The combination of the filmmaking, the story, and the performance of the actors delivers an exceptional cinematic experience. At times the film is lyrical while swiftly being able to move towards a ominous situation where high levels of uncertainty generate anxiety. The duality of humanity has been gently touched on in this film, but not thoroughly explored, which leaves the audience with a personal and artistic impression of what love truly can be.
A love letter to movies (and the French new wave of the 1960s in particular), Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers starts with a 1968 riot outside of a Parisian movie palace then burrows into an insular love triangle. Matthew (Michael Pitt, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), an expatriate American student, bonds with a twin brother and sister, Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garrel), over their mutual love of film--they not only quote lines of dialogue, they act out small bits and challenge each other to name the cinematic source. Matthew suspects the twins of incest, but that doesn't stop him from falling into his own intimacies with Isabelle. As the threesome becomes threatened, Paris succumbs to student riots. The Dreamers aspires to be kinky, but the results are more... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Bernardo Bertolucci DVD Release Date: Released the 13 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The sex scenes were some of the best I've seen because they were graphic yet very realistic. The story was touching and honest. If you're an adult who enjoys a realistic story that is very hot, you will definitely enjoy this gem. Watch and enjoy! More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Mark Rylance - Kerry Fox Director(s): Patrice Chéreau DVD Release Date: Released the 06 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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I suppose it is theoretically possibly that a viewer could be "shocked" or "enthralled" by this movie if they had never seen anything outside the Hollywood movie and certainly no previous Catherine Breillat movies. But even then, I am skeptical.
This movie is boring, and it has a "been there, done that" feel from Breillat. This movie's problems are indicative of what I feel is the larger problem plaguing "art house" cinema the last couple of years. They have become as formulaic and thoughtlessly perfunctory as your most paint-by-numbers Hollywood romantic comedy. Too many movies that are supposed to be providing intelligent and thought-provoking alternatives to what elitists call "The Hollywood swill" are not doing that. Instead, the art house formula has grown distressingly... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Catherine Breillat DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Any movie that can keep little Willy standing at attention throughout the whole movie is a 5 star winner!I would not recommend this to the sisters at the convient, but Im sure everyone else will enjoy! More Info about this DVD Director(s): Tinto Brass DVD Release Date: Released the 28 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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La Belle Noiseuse is a thrilling and unconventional drama about the responsibility of an artist to his vision and the conflicts that arise when such responsibility is perceived as a threat to others. Michel Piccoli (Le Doulos) delivers one of his finest, most lived-in performances as Edouard Frenhofer, a famous painter living with his artist wife Liz (Jane Birkin) on a spacious estate in the French countryside. Frenhofer has lacked inspiration for a decade and has given up on painting. The idea behind his unfinished masterpiece, La Belle Noiseuse ("The Beautiful Troublemaker"), has been seemingly unattainable for a decade; Liz was the original model for it, and Frenhofer's exhaustion with the project has an emotional parallel to his dispassionate relationship with... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Michel Piccoli - Jane Birkin - Emmanuelle Béart Director(s): Jacques Rivette DVD Release Date: Released the 06 July 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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