A Film about Boobs

Posted on April 20, 2007 in Bipolar Disorder Film

There’s something to be said for Robert Ebert’s declaration that “Betty Blue is a movie about [[Beatrice Dalle]]’s boobs and behind, and everything else is just what happens in between the scenes where she displays them.” I think that’s exactly how her lover, Zorg, chooses to see her and it is his obsession that draws our focus in the film.

Zorg ([[Jean-Hugues Anglade]]) and Betty fuck a lot. Not only do you get to see full frontal nudity of Dalle, but you also get to see Anglade’s flaccid sausage plenty of times, too. Their life together is mostly about sex which prevents Zorg from seeing that his beloved Betty suffers either from [[bipolar disorder]] or, more likely, [[borderline personality|borderline disorder]]. He slaps her around when she gets hysterical and ignores her worst behaviors, allowing her to stimulate him into a destructive lifestyle and then suffocating her when she goes too far and mutilates herself.

Isn ‘t this like so many of the so-called-sane? They love us when we’re running on aviation fuel, full of laughs and libido but vanish quickly when we inflict harm on ourselves or descend into the deep blue funks. Ebert, I believe, based his review on a heavilly studio-edited version of the film rather than the director’s cut that I saw. Boobs play a big part in Betty Blue (there’s a part where Zorg feels up those of his grocer friend’s wife). In his mind they become an obstruction to understanding of and compassion for Betty’s illness: when she falters, he can only press her out of his life.

Zorg is a monster.

Here’s the trailer.

[tags]bipolar disorder, promiscuity, film, French cinema[/tags]