Betty Blue (1986) - "The forecast was for storms......."

I went through a period when I had more time to watch, and later, collect movies from around the world and after seeing this movie at an Odeon Cinema in Harrogate, England upon its release in 1986, it went straight into my personal 'Top 10' movie list where it remains to this day.

THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW

Betty Blue is a French movie based on a 1985 novel of the same name from celebrated French author, Philippe Dijan and directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. It stars a then-unknown model, Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade in the lead roles and tells the story of the love affair between a handyman and aspiring writer, Zorg and a free-spirited young woman, Betty. The film is often described as an 'erotic', psychological drama, but I think the use of erotic lends itself to a negative perception.

The opening scene is a long, slowly zooming in and detailed shot of the couple having sex and is probably the most sexual and slightly shocking opening to a movie I've ever seen but it sets the tone of the relationship at that point in time and is in no way gratuitous. The nudity, of which there is quite a lot and this particular scene are not there for titillation, hence the use of 'erotic' being unfair. There are elements of comedy both slapstick-like and very dark humour which make the movie difficult to pigeon-hole but dramatic it most certainly is.

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Their relationship is intense and develops deeper when Betty discovers volumes of manuscripts which Zorg has written and after obsessively reading every one of them and deciding that Zorg is the greatest writer since Shakespeare, makes it her mission to get them published and for him to stop wasting his life painting beach-shacks and being treated like a slave by his current boss. To achieve this, she simply burns down their own beach shack and pours paint over the bosses new car!

We then get an insight into her obsessive psyche as she sits down to type out the handwritten notebooks on her own. Blinkered and relentless in her task which is made more difficult by her inability to type. We are talking typewriter here, it's the 1980s!

Zorg and Betty are very different characters. Zorg is chilled and laid back whilst Betty is highly strung, obsessive and passionate and their relationship begins built on sex and we see it develop throughout the movie until the finale which can only be described as an act of pure love. Betty's mental health also deteriorates and Zorg's never-ending battle to protect her from herself whilst looking like a deer trapped in the headlights produces an incredible acting performance.

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The cinematography is amazing. Stunning sweeping shots of deserted beaches to open and later, close-up and intense portraits of the guests at a drunken dinner party immediately stand out and the lighting and overall 'design' of the film, and especially the use of colours which are bright but yet a little muted, integrate perfectly with the theme and mood.

The music was written by Gabriel Yared and the theme that bookends the movie are a clever play on a carousel theme using a pipe organ that is both distinctive and catchy. The music and soundtrack are not obtrusive and like the cinematography, purely integrates to create such a perfect overall piece of movie storytelling.

Trying my hardest not to be clichéd, but the chemistry between Dalle and Anglade are a match made in heaven, they complement each other perfectly with the slightly older Zorg, juggling the role between lover, protector and almost Father-figure to the tempestuous and impulsive Betty being a joy to behold. The scenes featuring the two of them are hypnotic and intense and I found I couldn't take my eyes off them.

There are also other, supporting roles of note. Lisa, Betty's friend and her new wealthy boyfriend Eddy, add a new dimension to the story and between the four of them create some hilarious and drunken scenes, but often end with a twist as Betty's ever-worsening mental health and outbursts begin defining the movie more and more and it is these ever more frequent, violent and disturbing displays from Betty that lead the movie to its eventual conclusion.

One final point about the movie is its poster, which is the first image I've used. Although nominated for BAFTAs, Oscars and the French equivalent, the Césers, the only award it won was for its beautiful film. It is said that the whole colours scheme and design of the film was based around a Gitane cigarette packet! I am lucky enough to own the original poster that was outside the Odeon cinema in Harrogate which I bought a few weeks after the movie had finished for the princely sum of 50 pence! Not that I'd sell it, but I have seen the originals sell online for several hundred pounds. It is genuinely a work of art.

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In Conclusion

There is no way I can do this film justification with my words and I have tried so hard not to spoil it and give too much away except to say I would love everyone to watch it. I will simply throw in a few more adjectives and superlatives to try and whet your appetite!
This movie is beautiful, touching, shocking, incredibly sad, but overall is a stunning piece of movie making that examines and documents a very difficult and complicated relationship without sugar-coating or romanticising the events in any way.

Watch it! You won't regret it.

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• Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11986-37-2-c-le-matin?language=en-US

• Critic: AAA

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• 별점: (A, AA, AAA 중 선택해서 이곳에 삽입)