Playing catchup this morning again, this was seen on 8/23.Essentially a tragic romance film for the art-house set, Betty Blue completely exceeded my expectations. This film is full of life, and more importantly it's real - without belief in the genuine connection between the lovers, a film in this genre fizzles into a dead exercise in meaninglessness. Zorg and Betty mean a great deal to each other; he keeps her wild light grounded in reality and she fuels his buried artistic impulse. To the film's immense credit the touching interdependence between the two develops in a completely believable way without relying on the cliches and gimmicks that the genre typically makes use of.
I have the feeling many people were drawn to this one because of it's uncompromising erotic content. Admittedly, there is quite a bit of nudity (male and female), but it's far from crossing the boundry into softcore tripe. On the topic of of nudity, Betty Blue emphatically shouts (in my best French accent) "It's only natural!" The love between Zorg and Betty is real, so sex needs to maintain this naturalism as well. In a particularly memorable scene, an older fat disheveled-looking man enters Zorg's beachfront bungalow one morning and finds Zorg and Betty in bed, both completely nude without any tactically placed sheets covering them. They've obviously had one hell of a night, and the old guy's silly smirk of admiration shows he knows it too. Betty wakes to see this stranger staring at them, asks who the hell he is but doesn't cover herself. Zorg gets out of bed and asks the man to pardonnez-moi because the old guy is sitting on his pants. Hillariously the fat man remarks "I like to sleep naked too." Zorg proceeds to make coffee and it's back to business as usual. In essence, the film's nudity doesn't have an erotic intent; rather it serves to convey the unabashed intimacy of two people in love.
Betty Blue is quintessentially French in all the best possible ways. Part of the pleasure of watching this film is in how it just nails the details of that culture. From its naturalistic handling of nudity to its love of romance, good food, wine and friendship; Betty Blue is a vibrant reminder of a culture that values the important things in life above all. Of all the wonderful little details of French life contained in this film one illustrates this slant perfectly. Zorg is running late delivering a piano to a client. He borrows the a huge truck from the small provincial grocer's brother-in-law. As he's speeding down the winding roads of the French countryside (with a full concert grand in tow) he's pulled over by a completely unsympathetic policeman. Of course Zorg doesn't have his license with him, doesn't own the truck, and was obviously well over the speed limit on a road not meant for such an enormous vehicle. His excuse to the cop: "I just found out today I'm going to be a father." Suddenly the officer changes his tune entirely, a huge smile of congratulations appears on his face and, as is only fitting, sings a song about fatherly responsibility. He waves Zorg off as he once again barrels down the road. Indeed, in France even the police officers have secret manuscripts that they're desperately trying to get published.
Echoes of Cassavettes' "A woman under the influence" are evident in the concluding tragic turn of this film as a gut-wrenching reminder that some flames just burn too brightly for this world.
IMDB
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