Betty (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Betty |
| Original title | Betty |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1992 |
| length | 103 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Claude Chabrol |
| script | Claude Chabrol |
| production | Marin Karmitz |
| music | Matthieu Chabrol |
| camera | Bernard Zitzermann |
| cut | Monique Fardoulis |
| occupation | |
| |
Betty is a 1992 drama film directed by Claude Chabrol , who wrote the screenplay based on the Georges Simenon novel of the same name .
action
The attractive Betty in her late twenties drifts aimlessly through Paris and gets drunk with whiskey in bars . Money doesn't seem to play a role here, and her elegant clothes also suggest a wealthy background. Drunk she lets a man take her in the car who drives her to Versailles . He leads them to the restaurant “Le Trou” ( The Hole ), a meeting place for bon vivants, failed livelihoods and drinkers , but also normal guests and families. The landlord Mario, a younger Italian , treats everyone equally friendly and Betty, despite her obvious drunkenness, with the utmost kindness. After an excessive binge of drinking in the restaurant, Betty passed out and the next morning found herself in the hotel room of the elderly Laure, a rich widow who spends a large part of the year in Versailles and is a regular at "Trou". She has an affair with Mario, who visits her several times in the course of the action at the hotel for shepherd's hours. Laure also drinks a lot, but has largely got a grip on herself. She is also a trained nurse and has syringes and medication with her, which she also supplies to Betty. She nurses her back up, helps her to survive her hangover and seeks conversation with the younger woman without being intrusive.
Betty and Laure spend a lot of time together, both drinking tons of whiskey, of which Laure seems to have an inexhaustible supply. But only Betty gets drunk. They get closer to each other and Laure offers Betty to stay with her for a while and relax. The mentally and physically battered Betty agrees and has her belongings transported from Paris to the hotel. In the course of the plot, the story of Betty is told in interleaved flashbacks: from her simple childhood in the country, where she witnessed a rape , to her marriage to Guy, a son from a wealthy family, to the difficulties with brother-in-law and parents-in-law to the descriptions of her countless and indiscriminate love affairs, which she mostly read in pubs - even during her marriage.
When the family catches her red-handed having sex with a lover in the property's living room, the family council decides to settle the matter discreetly but consistently: Betty is generously compensated with money, but has to leave the house immediately and is never allowed to see her daughters again. Divorce is not planned. Betty agrees and has since led a life in bars and shabby hour hotels , where she constantly gets drunk and randomly goes with male acquaintances from every social class. Drunk Betty collapses while telling her story and has to be taken care of by a doctor. She is in bed and is lovingly cared for and looked after by Laure. One day, Betty's husband, Guy, shows up and asks her to come back home, claiming that the family have forgiven her. Betty declines and says goodbye to Guy in a friendly but determined manner.
Betty is recovering better and better and seems more balanced, also thanks to Laures good care and human sympathy. Betty thanks her badly: During Laures absence, she seduces Mario and makes him her lover. When Laure hears about this, she packs her bags and leaves the hotel without saying goodbye. Betty moves in with Mario in the restaurant and starts a new, simple, but happy life with him: She has freed herself from her psychoses and fears at Laure's expense. Betty's mother-in-law and a friend are having coffee and talking about Laure: She was found dead in her bed. In the final scene, Betty removes the dead ornamental fish from the aquarium in the restaurant with a net .
Audio film
The audio film version was produced by Arte in 2000 . The speaker is Hans Mittermüller.
Reviews
“She ( Marie Trintignant ) was never again so scary and irresistible at the same time: a sphinx, oscillating between moodiness and depression. Marie Trintignant's biggest appearance in her thirty film career. "
“Marie Trintignant, ideally cast, plays a woman who takes what she may not want at all. She leaves the figure where Simenon has it at home: roughly. Because "Betty" is neither a psychological study nor a sociogram: the film describes with uninvolved benevolence a woman who keeps her secrets. "
1992's "Betty" is Chabrol's most underrated film. Because he was the only one who understood how to let everything that Simenon describes in his novels resonate without showing it. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Betty in Hörfilm database of Hörfilm e. V.
- ↑ filmkunstkinos.de: Film criticism of Betty ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Der Spiegel No. 29/1992
- ↑ Michael Althen in the FAZ of June 22, 2010
Web links
- Betty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Extensive review of Roger Ebert's film in the Chicago Sun-Times , published October 1, 1993, accessed July 22, 2010
- filmsdefrance.com about Betty (English)