- Actors: Beatrice Dalle, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Gerard Darmon, Consuelo De Havilland, Clémentine Célarié
- Directors: Jean-Jacques Beineix
- Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Colour, Subtitled
- Language French
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent.UK
- DVD Release Date: 13 Mar 2006
- Run Time: 178 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B0001XQE06
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 8,204 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details |
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 precious Diva 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 favourite of movie-soundtrack mavens, especially its haunting piano theme.-- Robert Horton
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
There is an abiding illusion that Directors know how their movie should be presented and that the Director's Cut is therefore the one to get, the one to wait for. Occasionally perhaps that is true but for other films the studio knew best. This is one of those cases. The film depicts a writer who is becalmed in life until he falls in love with Betty, the muse that will give life back to his creativity. But as his art is reborn so she slips into madness and decay as if it is her very spirit of life itself that she is surrendering to save that which her lover needs most of all.
In the original the love, the climb, is the length of the movie, funny, touching, poetic and sensual. The decay is portrayed quickly and savagely. The point is made, the story told. In the Director' s cut the decay goes on forever and by the end of an extra hour of depression you long for her end as an end to your own suffering. This entirely changes the emotional journey of the film and for me ruined it. If you can find it then get the studio cut. That one is five stars.
In the original the love, the climb, is the length of the movie, funny, touching, poetic and sensual. The decay is portrayed quickly and savagely. The point is made, the story told. In the Director' s cut the decay goes on forever and by the end of an extra hour of depression you long for her end as an end to your own suffering. This entirely changes the emotional journey of the film and for me ruined it. If you can find it then get the studio cut. That one is five stars.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
BETTY BLUE (or 37º2 LE MATIN, to give it its original French title) is a film based on a book by Philippe Dijan, and centres around Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), a 30-year-old painter and plumber who has written a novel that keeps being refused by publishers. His girlfriend is the titular Betty (a very good start for Béatrice Dalle), a 19-year-old beauty who has a penchant for becoming unpredictable in her behaviour to the point where she could literally be throwing the toys out of the pram.
Zorg has an argument with his boss, which Betty takes very badly and makes our young couple leave the area to try and get Zorg's book published in the big city. However, the refusals from publishers continue, and this causes our wildcat Betty to fly off the handle in her own inimitable way, but her mood swings and rage become an increasing concern for Zorg, and might lead to disastrous consequences. How can their relationship possibly survive?
I've not read the original book, but nothing can alter the fact that this is a highly accomplished example of French cinema at its best, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. Each shot is beautifully coloured, with clever uses of blues and yellows in particular. Anglade and Dalle are fantastic to watch, with very believable performances from the pair of them, and you wonder what could have happened to Dalle had she not had the occasional moments similar to her Betty character in real life (one altercation with the law reportedly denied her the ability to get a US visa to get a role on THE SIXTH SENSE). Dalle in particular really sets the screen alight with her beautiful smile and alluring performance.
There is a fair bit of sex and nudity in this film. In fact, the very moment that the opening credits end you're in a sex scene! You also see a lot of shots of full-frontal nudity from both of the principal performers, and the most prudish might be a bit annoyed about the number of times Anglade walks around naked with, ahem, everything on show. But in all fairness this is a different culture, and the whole film certainly doesn't come off as gratuitous when there's so much else to marvel at. Yes, the film is almost three hours long, but it's not really a drag at all (and nobody says you have to watch the whole thing at once on DVD).
The music plays an integral part in the film, especially from the moment that the two end up in a piano store and play a tune together, which resurfaces in later key parts of the film. Gabriel Yared composed the score.
Given Betty's problems, you might think that the film's all doom and gloom when she goes into one of her rages, but in fact there are plenty of times when she's really sweet and smiley, and the film is punctuated with some light-hearted comic moments that do not detract from the film in any way.
Wonderful film.
Zorg has an argument with his boss, which Betty takes very badly and makes our young couple leave the area to try and get Zorg's book published in the big city. However, the refusals from publishers continue, and this causes our wildcat Betty to fly off the handle in her own inimitable way, but her mood swings and rage become an increasing concern for Zorg, and might lead to disastrous consequences. How can their relationship possibly survive?
I've not read the original book, but nothing can alter the fact that this is a highly accomplished example of French cinema at its best, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. Each shot is beautifully coloured, with clever uses of blues and yellows in particular. Anglade and Dalle are fantastic to watch, with very believable performances from the pair of them, and you wonder what could have happened to Dalle had she not had the occasional moments similar to her Betty character in real life (one altercation with the law reportedly denied her the ability to get a US visa to get a role on THE SIXTH SENSE). Dalle in particular really sets the screen alight with her beautiful smile and alluring performance.
There is a fair bit of sex and nudity in this film. In fact, the very moment that the opening credits end you're in a sex scene! You also see a lot of shots of full-frontal nudity from both of the principal performers, and the most prudish might be a bit annoyed about the number of times Anglade walks around naked with, ahem, everything on show. But in all fairness this is a different culture, and the whole film certainly doesn't come off as gratuitous when there's so much else to marvel at. Yes, the film is almost three hours long, but it's not really a drag at all (and nobody says you have to watch the whole thing at once on DVD).
The music plays an integral part in the film, especially from the moment that the two end up in a piano store and play a tune together, which resurfaces in later key parts of the film. Gabriel Yared composed the score.
Given Betty's problems, you might think that the film's all doom and gloom when she goes into one of her rages, but in fact there are plenty of times when she's really sweet and smiley, and the film is punctuated with some light-hearted comic moments that do not detract from the film in any way.
Wonderful film.
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
If I could give this film 6 stars, I would have.
This is a beautiful, haunting piece that has deservedly become a classic. The almost unbearable delay to its DVD release no doubt added to its mystique and cult status (along with that wonderful poster), but regardless, it is quite simply wonderful.
21 years since it's original release, it remains one of the very few examples of a film being as good as the novel - in fact, it's possibly even better.
Impeccably acted, with a wonderful script and haunting camera work, somehow it manages to exemplify the eighties while retaining a timeless quality. Beatrice Dalle is simply stunning - not just in her beauty but in the way she obssesses and seduces both the lead male character and the viewer.
It's almost a shame that she won this role so early in her career as she has never bettered it - and will probably never be able to. She therefore remains a very under-rated actress.
Essential viewing for any lover of French cinema - essential viewing in fact for any lover of quality cinema.
Buy it - you won't be disappointed, but you may be a little bit haunted ...
This is a beautiful, haunting piece that has deservedly become a classic. The almost unbearable delay to its DVD release no doubt added to its mystique and cult status (along with that wonderful poster), but regardless, it is quite simply wonderful.
21 years since it's original release, it remains one of the very few examples of a film being as good as the novel - in fact, it's possibly even better.
Impeccably acted, with a wonderful script and haunting camera work, somehow it manages to exemplify the eighties while retaining a timeless quality. Beatrice Dalle is simply stunning - not just in her beauty but in the way she obssesses and seduces both the lead male character and the viewer.
It's almost a shame that she won this role so early in her career as she has never bettered it - and will probably never be able to. She therefore remains a very under-rated actress.
Essential viewing for any lover of French cinema - essential viewing in fact for any lover of quality cinema.
Buy it - you won't be disappointed, but you may be a little bit haunted ...
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A flawed film that haunts me
It's funny, on an 'objective' level this is a weaker film than
Beineix's 'Diva'. Indulgent (3 hours long! Read more
Beineix's 'Diva'. Indulgent (3 hours long! Read more
Published 4 months ago by K. Gordon
French films
This is a wonderful film. It starts out as Grand Porno, slides into a love story with plenty of laughs and finally ends as a tragedy. Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. F. Pye
Betty Blue directed by Jean Jacques Beineix 5*
The 1986 French film Betty Blue with English subtitles. Starring Jeanes Hugues Anglade (Zorg) and Beatrice Dalle (Betty). Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ms H. Smith
Betty blue ...we love u
A review is now not a requirement for this landmark film - it probably still divides opinion and I cannot say it is a film i would go back to time and time again.... Read more
Published 12 months ago by G. King
An incredible film
Betty Blue is a film adapted from Philippe Djian's book, "37.2 Degrees In The Morning". The film adaptation is beautifully shot and sensitively directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and... Read more
Published 24 months ago by James McDermid
I hardly noticed the nudity
I hardly noticed the nudity the first time I saw this film because the story is completely absorbing. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2010 by VCBF (Val)
I hardly noticed the nudity
I hardly noticed the nudity the first time I saw this film because the story is completely absorbing. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2010 by VCBF (Val)
One of my favourite films
The viewer gets an early glimpse of Betty's psyche when her way of telling her boyfriend she wants to move is by burning down the house. Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2009 by Pedro the Llama
Unbelievably dull & pointless film !
What is the director, Bieneix trying to say in "Betty Blue"? I am not sure. The behavior of the characters is senseless and boring. Read more
Published on 17 Nov 2009 by D. Milner
A melancholic Gallic love story
If you're looking for something a bit different, then you might enjoy this. Betty Blue is about an unpublished writer (Zorg) who works as a handyman on a beach estate somewhere in... Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2009 by LXIX
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
