Search - Cousin Bette on DVD

Tarra S. (thesaintmom) from PIEDMONT, SC
Reviewed on 3/26/2008...

Wow! This was a great movie. You did not know where it was going throughout the whole movie!

2 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

Confused point of view mars period drama

Matthew Horner | USA | 03/28/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Many reviewers of the theatrical release of Cousin Bette pointed out that the film was not faithful to the novel by Honere de Balzac. I will take their word, as I never read the book. It's just as well. Movies are not really comparable to print media, the novel is in the public domain, and Balzac is long gone.As a film, it is a visual extravaganza. I must admit that, for me, when a movie is impeccably and stylishly photographed, I can enjoy it for that reason alone. None of us know personally what France looked like 150 years ago, but Cousin Bette goes to great lengths to recreate it. The homes and the clothing of the upper class are sumptuous, while slums and their inhabitants are suitably grim and grimy.Jessica Lange remains one of our great actresses. Sadly, she hasn't had a hit picture in over ten years, so many people don't know who she is. As Bette Fisher, she brilliantly portrays a woman whose parents ignored her in favor of her older, more attractive sister. Now a forty year old spinster who is a costumer for a Paris theater, she quietly endures her insensitive, nearly bankrupt family.When her sister dies, her brother-in-law, Baron Hector [Hugh Laurie], presumes that she will move in and play nurse maid to her spoiled niece, Hortense [Kelly McDonald]. Bette refuses and returns to her small and lonely apartment. Soon she saves the life of a suicidal neighbor, a handsome young sculptor named Count Wenceslas [Aden Young]. While helping him to establish himself as an artist, she at last reveals that she is in love with him. What follows is a tale of ruthless, selfish people who take what they want in life. Wenceslas is using Bette. Hortense feels free to woe him away from Bette. Baron Hector feels his friends are meant to loan him money to support his silly and extravagant lifestyle. His best friend Cesar, delightfully play by Bob Hoskins, thinks money will buy him anything, including Hortense. Very prominent in the lives of all the characters is the actress and courtesan Jennie Cadice [Elisabeth Shue].None of these people are prepared for Bette's fury, and it is her devilishly clever revenge that is the heart of the story. Taking her for granted proves to be their undoing.The flaw in Cousin Bette is that first time film director Des McAnuff could not decided whether to make the movie a drama or a dark comedy. It is more of the latter, but the actors play their parts too subtly for laughs. Often the main differences between comedy and drama are how the cast delivers their lines and how they use body language. The script begs to be interpreted either one way or the other. The movie is still enjoyable, but if you find yourself not knowing whether to laugh or cry in many scenes, the problem is not with you."

Balzac's Novel is Superior

E. Dolnack | Atlanta, GA USA | 06/10/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Jessica Lang's performance is absoutely stunning! The costumes are exquisite. The locales are unbelievable. The story is complex and pulls you in everytime. The emotions are deep and strong.Why then is this film not a masterpiece? In my opinion, it is because they "modernized" the novel too much and left out some pretty important parts; such as Jenny & Crevel's marriage and contracted diseases at the end of the film. The elderly Hulot is a deaf, bumbling old fool in the film while in the novel he is a stern, disciplined man of high honor and integrity. The entire bare-buttocks routine by Jenny Cadine, as idiotic as it is, is also not a part of the original book.This film held very great potential to be a modern masterpiece; a sort of French equivalent of 1939's "Gone With the Wind", but ends-up being a sort of period-piece/soap opera with a big budget. It fails to be humorous while it also fails to be serious. It lies in-between in a sort of caricatured universe of 2-dimensional cartoon characters, some evil, some wholesome. Seeing the story portrayed this way gave me a brilliant idea: why not have Disney use the story as the setting for their next feature-length animated picture? In that sense, the dumbing-down of this in-depth story makes sense and would work.As it is, I only give this film a marginal thumbs-up mainly for Jessica Lang, who is spectacular here. For her alone, this is indeed an oscar performance of excellence!"