Betty Blue

Betty Blue - 2004-02-17 Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix Cast: Béatrice Dalle France, 1986, Color, 120 minutes This shocking, extravagant, and highly emotional film is dedicated to excess and improvisation. A lazy writer named Zorg enters a tumultuous love affair with the main character, who bears the film's name. Betty is a young and beautiful woman with seductive lips and a body like a Renoir statue, brimming with the energy of life. She is selfless and genuine, easily giving of herself. For a short while, the viewer has no choice but to envy Zorg's happiness, but it soon becomes clear that Betty suffers from bipolar disorder, which causes her mood to swing from day to day. Those who experience this condition usually have high intelligence, but they cannot control the movement from one extreme of sadness to the other extreme of joy and vice versa. The director's masterpiece lies in his ability to establish a relationship between the viewer and the beautiful Béatrice Dalle, allowing the viewer to clearly feel the suffering and pain that the character endures. At times, Betty is so depressed and sad that she destroys Zorg's entire world, but when she is happy, she is filled with such life energy that traces of improvisational genius can be seen in her, and along with her joy, Zorg (and consequently the viewer) feels closer to their own horizon of pleasure. As we move toward the film's conclusion, we increasingly feel the weight of an impending great tragedy. Betty's illness worsens, and its destructive edge turns toward Betty herself. Upon exiting the cinema, the viewer is profoundly affected by the fate of these two young people and is fully aware that they are leaving after witnessing a great tragedy.