Cousin Bette

The plot is complicated, too much so to describe in 1,000 words. Let's just say Cousin Bette is a tale of familial revenge set in 1840s Paris. Cousin Bette is the spinster aunt of a large wealthy family in the throes of loosing it all; money, dignity and respect. As they struggle, Bette (Lange) weaves her plots, many of which go astray working unintended consequences. This is a delightful black comedy that I liked very much, more so than most reviewers and commentators. If you have a predilection for this kind of movie, jump right in.

Jessica Lange is just fabulous in this movie. I had to watch it a couple of times to see where Elizabeth Shue fits in. The music was very enjoyable. I thought the movie was very well made, and enjoyed the little cameos of the musical director.

I'm not familiar with Balzac's novel, but I've read a ton of Romantic literature. And this is one of its classic variations (The virtuous are redeemed). I would never have selected this movie myself (friends did) but I enjoyed it. If I described this as Madame Iago, you'd have the entire plot. Nothing is quite so much fun as watching someone who's been disrespected revenging herself on a crowd, especially after how needlessly cruel they've been. Since the playing field will never roll the arrangement back in Bette's favor, why not just destroy everyone? It's like a bomb went off when she's done. I am in no way a fan of Lange, but she's adequate (while looking distressingly like Jim Carrey in drag).

On the minus side, the lead-up to the 1848 Revolution is trivialized. The writing is extremely weak (Point A is always too overtly connected to Point B), and the lighting of every scene is too brazen. The accents are all over the place, which becomes very distracting.

Cousin Bette, a period piece, set in mid nineteenth century shows the moral, social and economic bankruptcy of noble class prior to upheaval in a perversely funny series of backstabbing and double-crossing orchestrated by Ms. Lange, a poor disen- franchised but strong willed cunning cousin. The other actors Ms. Shue, Mr. Hoskins, Mr. Young were excellent as well. The dialogue was well written as to be naturally funny even when dealing with death, betrayal, or malicious conniving. My thanks to all involved for wonderful afternoon's entertainment.

A somewhat sanitised version of the Balzac classic which departs disappointingly from the original story. Jessica Lang is far too pretty a version of the downtrodden, wizened old hag Bette of the original and so conveys none of her deviousness in the many schemes to avenge herself against her condescending relatives. Missing completely from the film is arch-whore Valerie, a central character of the book's plot, who dies a grim death from a disfiguring tropical disease at the conclusion, thus removing an important moral message of the tale. Most of Balzac's other works viz. Madame Bovary, contain one of these. That said, costumes and furniture are fairly faultless which shows Hollywood has at least tried to do justice to a great book.