Betty Blue (1986) by Jean-Jacques Beineix

[cranefly]

I watched this years ago and was blown away by it.  Criterion.com just made a Director's Cut available (3 hours 5 minutes), and I just couldn't resist.

It's an amazing French film that runs counter to all that one hates about French film.  It's full of action, colorful settings and characters, and at its core there's some remarkable performances, especially by Béatrice Dalle in the role of the titular Betty.  It's her film debut, a very demanding role, and she pulls off a tour de force.  There's a lot of nudity in this film, by the way, both male and female.  It's done so naturally, without inhibition, that it makes the intimacy and emotions all the more powerful.

I watched it too long ago to be able to pick out differences in this Director's Cut.  But it's as impressive a presentation as I remember it.  The musical score is especially haunting.

But there is one downside to the film.  It gets very dark towards the end.  A little over two hours in I started seeing the first signs of that darkness, and I just wasn't up to venturing there right then.  So I stopped.

But I do intend to watch the rest of Betty Blue -- just not right now.

BTW, if you watch just one French film in your lifetime, consider this a candidate.  Highly recommended.

[Drunk Monk]

First of all, I disdain French film. It always comes down to that scene where they are drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes in a street cafe discussion film in a pretentious meta way.  Is there a scene like that in this?  I'll just fast forward to that. Then there's those ambiguous existential endings. If I want to experience existential ambiguity, I'll just look out the window of my car during a traffic jam.  I want my films to give me a happy ending.  Or a sad one.  Not ambiguity.  Give me closure. 

Second of all, wth is up with all these 3+ hour marathon movies you're watching?  If you're going to go that way...Bollywood!  

Third of all, what is up with reviewing films you don't finish?  Go back to the posters, bro.  At least we'll get some closure.

[cranefly]

I did finish this rewatch, by the way.  Yes, it does get dark towards the end, but I have a better understanding of it this time.

Still, the first two hours are what make it, and even though it's a French film, Beineix breaks the mold.  He pioneered the "Cinéma du look" movement, along with Luc Besson and Leos Carax.  It's electrifying cinema, certainly for French film, and I steadfastly defend Betty Blue as "not of that ilk."

So there!

It's also one of the most convincing intimate portraits ever put to film, full of passion and pyrotechnics.