BETTY BLUE - DVD review

Gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride and lust. These are the so-called Seven Deadly Sins, and in one regard or another, each is featured in "Betty Blue," a recent rerelease of the 1986 Jean-Jacques Beineix film by Cinema Libre Studio. Some instances are easier to pick up than others, but by no means is this a film that only preaches negativity or ill will. It's an extremely complex love story that mixes in the sins listed above and leaves you pondering their role in the experience you just went through.

This edition is the extended director's cut, and runs well over an hour longer than the original theatrical version. I've seen and reviewed two other Beineix films, "IP5" and "Mortal Transfer," here at DVDTOWN, and this small sample featuring some pretty pronounced work has some real similarities. All three have a coming of age feel, with characters that grow together rather than independently and lean on one another to survive. More importantly, Beineix implements a madness undertone that infects these films at multiple instances and lingers with its players throughout. It's a unique element I've not seen in too many other works, and throws a curve ball into the mix.

"Betty Blue" was originally released in theaters in November 1986. In French, its title is "37°2 le matin," which means ‘37.2°C in the morning,' apparently a pregnant woman's normal morning temperature. Based on a 1985 novel with the same title from Phillippe Djian, "Betty Blue" was nominated for the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the 1987 British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for nine Cesar Awards, accolades given to France's best films annually.

As with other Beineix films, this one has its own extremes, particularly with regard to sexuality. There's more than enough nudity to go around, featuring both men and women. Dialogue blends plenty of profanity and vulgar lines together. The characters abuse alcohol, tobacco and drugs with little regard for others or themselves. It may not really sound like a love story, or something you'd want to actually watch. But the reality is that for many, things like sexual endeavors, profanity and substance abuse are connected with personal lives and intimate relationships. Today, this may be truer than when Beineix directed "Betty Blue" over two decades ago. So you've been warned about the challenge that lies ahead, but if you're able, take it all in. I'm optimistic you'll gain something from it.

Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is a simple man with a pretty interesting secret you wouldn't know unless you dug it out. He lives in a shack on the beach and exudes bachelor tendencies from all orifices. His personal hygiene is non-existent, his eating habits poor and his regard for women slightly askew. Zorg makes his living by doing some little things and odd jobs here and there for his landlord. It isn't a glorious life, but he seems content.

We meet him one afternoon during a sexual romp with Betty (Beatrice Dalle) in his bedroom. She's not exactly the girl you want to take home to your parents, but she makes up for it in other ways. Her beauty is natural and stunning, her passion for life visible and tangible. Betty's desire to take in every moment or experience she can produces emotion and desire in those around her, especially Zorg. We learn they've only known each other one week, but are without question in love. She's working as a waitress in a nearby restaurant, and stumbles into his home unannounced one afternoon, recently unemployed and now homeless. Perplexed yet motivated by her lust and beauty, he opens his home to her. But when another long night loaded with sex and alcohol causes Zorg to be late for a job, his landlord comes knocking. Betty doesn't really like how Zorg is treated, and throws a tantrum that any four year old could learn a thing or two from. As a condition for her to stay, and punishment for Zorg's tardiness, the landlord orders the pair to paint the several hundred homes he owns along the beach.

After getting through a few locations, the landlord reappears and demands they keep up the pace. Angry and frustrated, Betty tosses pink paint on his luxury car and pushes him off an overhang. She continues to vent, and throws pretty much everything in Zorg's home out the front door and bedroom window. When she reaches a final box, it's full of World War II manuscripts Zorg wrote years ago. Betty stays up all night reading them, and tells Zorg he should try to have them published. He disagrees and gets back to the grind the next day, but when he returns home, Betty hands him a duffel bag with the handwritten manuscripts in it and tosses her lantern into his house, engulfing it in flames. The two leave town, with little money to their names or plans in their minds.

Eventually, the pair wind up at Lisa's (Consuelo De Haviland) place and rent a room. She is Betty's best friend, and willingly takes them in. While Zorg looks for work, Betty begins typing his writing, confident that getting it published is the key to their love and future together. Shortly after this, Lisa's lover Eddy (Gerard Darmon) moves in, and the two couples have more than enough drunken fun together. Eventually, Betty mails Zorg's work to some publishers, and the remaining run time illustrates how she deals with rejection, addiction and descent into a personal madness with verbal and physical repercussions.

Anglade and Dalle work very well together on screen. They have natural chemistry that flows freely, and are super convincing as lovers. They argue throughout the film, and work together well enough until Betty's actions push circumstances to irreversible positions. We learn at one point she is pregnant, but later that it was a misdiagnosis. Her anger causes her to destroy their home and intentionally deform herself. We see her frustration with Zorg's rejection by multiple publishers, and one day she lies to him, telling him they're going to see a doctor. In reality she leads him to a publisher and scratches the man's face. The line between passion and obsession is more blurred in "Betty Blue" than almost any other film I can think of.

Zorg struggles with how to deal with Betty. Clearly, he loves her, but doesn't ever really seem completely comfortable around her. He is the more compassionate of the two, and extremely level headed. I wouldn't call him idealistic, but clearly, he sees optimism more often than not. It's not enough to offset Betty's winding tirades and bizarre behavior, but it does present some nice contrast.

Beineix throws a wrench or two into the "Betty Blue" machine, just to keep viewers focused. In most scenes, Betty wears something blue, be it jeans, a blouse, a dress, a hat or underwear, hence the film's title. Zorg also dresses up in Betty's clothes on two occasions, once to rob an armored car and again to sneak past hospital security and see Betty after she's been admitted for attempting to kill herself by gouging out her right eye. Zorg also seems to run into the friendliest people during "Betty Blue." When he goes into the police station after Betty has scratched the publisher's face, he meets a detective who, like him, has an aspiration to write. They share a drink and badmouth publishers for half the night. When transporting a piano on a flatbed truck that's travelling too fast down a country road, he's stopped and questioned by a cop that lets him go because he shares his upcoming fatherhood. Maybe it's commentary on law enforcement, or just coincidence. At any rate, it's much unanticipated.

Whether or not Zorg's work is published doesn't matter in the end, just as whether or not Betty's able to pull herself out of a vicious downward spiral falls away from the forefront. "Betty Blue" is mostly about these two alike, yet vastly different, characters who seek something more from life and instead find each other. It's entertaining and loaded with despair, and works because its lead characters are so very convincing. Their physical passion for each other spills over into emotional concern, creating a more unique romance that operates on different levels.

Those long-ago mentioned sins are all present, but they don't take over "Betty Blue" in a way that will sour you too much. They add to the film and incorporate elements from its main characters together, generating a worth-watching product.

Video:
The video has high and low points. The high is the bright color contrast with dark color blend, while the low is the visible fade and grain in the transfer. The end result is a slightly above average 1.33:1 transfer. I was optimistic the picture would be sharper with a rerelease and director's cut edition, but alas, some visible signs do appear that show the film was made over twenty years ago. The vividness is much better in daylight scenes over nighttime scenes, and the inconsistency impacts the viewing experience. I will say that there are many good camera angles and lighting techniques from start to finish, adding an unconventional feel to the film's overall appeal.

Audio:
Better than the video, but not by much. "Betty Blue" has everything from gunshots to fires to car chases to fights to sex, but the sound is, like the video, higher in some points than others. Spoken words dominate, but when those words turn into whispers or yelling, the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio soundtrack doesn't do them appropriate justice. Sure, you can hear everything fine, and the film's structure and general atmosphere are aided by the audible tones and influences that give it a rough around the edges connotation. I just think that connotation could have been far better. The film is presented in French, and has English subtitles.

Extras:
Director Beineix was interviewed by Tim Rhys, Publisher of MovieMaker magazine, and that conversation is included, as is a photo gallery and director's commentary. There are some insights you get from both the interview and commentary, but it's mostly on the creative minds and ideas behind the film and not so much the technical filmmaking process itself.

A Final Word:
Having seen two other Beineix films, it's clear "Betty Blue" is in its own league. It wraps a rocky and unconventional love story around two separate but equal coming of age stories to put out a pretty engaging film experience. At 185 minutes, it's too long, even for a director's cut, but for a near perfectionist like Beineix this is like being a bear in its natural habitat. The characters are deep and challenging to understand, and as a whole the film pushes its viewers to experience them at their best and worst. I wouldn't call it ground breaking, but it's very close.