Customer Reviews

Cousin Bette [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Cousin Bette should've won Jessica Lange an Oscar nomination. She proved once and for all that she's a serious big league actress. This is a delicious revenge drama. Good old Cousin Bette is a spider who spins a web of death, financial ruin and humiliation for her foolish, selfish relatives. The other notables performance is by Elizabeth Shue who does her best work as Jennie the courtesan. She reminded me of Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge. Bob Hoskins is great as usual and Hugh Laurie does a grand job as the lecherous father. The only thing wrong with this film are the continutity problems and the glaring fact that Jessica Lange is no hag. It makes no sense that no man in the film couldn't see that.

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.

Jessica Lange has never been scarier than here in this adaptation of Balzac's revenge novel. This is one of those stories, like "I, Claudius", where everyone gets their just desserts in a very entertaining way. You get to watch from a god-like perch as Lange plots the destruction of everyone who ever abused her. Elizabeth Shue is delectable as a Parisian courtesan. And britcom fans will delight in Hugh Laurie's performance as the foolish, lecherous head of the family. This is one of those hidden treasures that you have to seek out, but you will be glad you did.

Oh PLEASE - whoever has the rights to dub off the original 1972 Masterpiece Theater TV series of 'Cousin Bette' do so and make it available on DVD. This was one of THE finest shows ever created for television. Truly, it totally eclipses the 1998 movie version and now, 40+ years later, I fear it will soon not be physically possible to render this production to DVD. For the sake of one of the theater (and humanity's) most glorious theatrical efforts, PLEASE make the original TV version available! (BTW - I rate the ORIGINAL item at 5+ STARS!)

Balzac's novel about jealousy and revenge is set in Paris, in 1846, and concerns Baron Hulot, his daughter, and his deceased wife's cousin, Bette. Bette was always the plain one, the dependable workhorse who lived in the shadow of her prettier, more favored cousin. A lowly theatre seamstress, Bette had hoped to marry the Baron, but now she's pining for the handsome young sculptor who lives in the apartment upstairs.

This movie could have been great with a little more effort; instead, it's soap opera stuff and not very good soap at that. Jessica Lange plays the homely spinster Bette and does a good job, but her American accent destroys any illusion that we are in France. Hugh Laurie (House, M.D.) is very likeable as the snobbish and sensuous Baron; too bad he didn't try a French accent, either. Elizabeth Shue plays a singer who captures the hearts of both the Baron and the sculptor; she's really miscast with her Midwestern twang and off-putting crudeness.

The costumes and sets are lavish and the French locations are beautiful, but the script is too convoluted and it isn't sure if it's a comedy or drama. The whole thing lacks any semblance of class, so what should have been a classic is merely forgettable.

If you like a humorous/tragedy stricken movie, this one is for you. I admit I have to be in a certain kind of mood to watch it. Toby Stephens is sensational, and I think it's an outrageously funny performance by him. My only complaint is I wish he had more screen time. I wish he would take on more comedic roles - set aside the lovey dovey stuff (Jane Eyre) and the bad guy stuff (Die Another Day) and do some more comedy. He's brilliant!

This is a story of revenge as though Shakespeare had written it. Jessica Lange becomes Bette and you find yourself on her side from the start. All the actors are believeable and the story carries you along. If you enjoy british period films, this one is for you.

Although I have not read Balzac's original, I enjoyed this funny yet tragic movie a lot. Jessica's impersonation of an extremely complicated heroine, cousin Bette, is exceptional. Even if you cannot enjoy a story itself, I am sure that you can definitely enjoy her perfomance.

I'll never forget the Masterpiece Theater mini-series from 1971. It was a sheer delight. Jessica Lange's Bette is a defanged, declawed pussy cat when compared to Margaret Tyzack's fierce tigeress whose fangs and claws are lethally sharp and carefully concealed.

I keep hoping PBS will rebroadcast the original series. Until then, forget the insipid movie.

Jessica Lange gives an absolutely mesmerizing performance as an extremely dangerous, shrewd, and mentally disturbed woman. In the drama Jessica, as Cousin Bette, saves a young artist from an attempted suicide and believes that his life belongs to her. Later Jessica's younger cousin steals the artist from Cousin Bette and there begins a tale of revenge. And revenge, as the Italian proverb states, "is a dish that people of taste prefer to eat cold". Jessica then plots how to destroy those who have caused her emotional pain. There are no limits to the events that she cleverly orchestrates in the background including murder. Jessica validates the saying that "Hell hath no fury as that of woman scorned". Jessica Lange won an Oscar for her performance in "Blue Sky"; however I believe her performance as "Cousin Bette" is even better.