372 le Matin (Betty Blue) (37.2 Degrees in the Morning) (1986)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 26
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.7/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 14,022
My Rating
Movie Info
Jean-Jacques Beineix's Betty Blue stars Béatrice Dalle as the title character, a mentally unbalanced and sexually aggressive free spirit who becomes involved with Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade), a repairman moonlighting as a writer. The two engage in a variety of sexual encounters, and grow more passionate toward each other. Betty finds Zorg's book and is aggressively supportive; over time, her mental and emotional instability begin to catch up with her and drive her to the point of romantic
Apr 9, 1986 Wide
Oct 12, 2004
Alive Films
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Cast
-
Jean-Hugues Anglade
Zorg -
Beatrice Dalle
Betty -
Gérard Darmon
Eddy -
-
Clémentine Célarié
Annie -
Vincent Lindon
Policeman Richard -
Jacque Mathou
Bob -
Claude Confortes
Bungalow Owner -
Philippe Laudenbach
Guneco Publisher -
Raoul Billerey
Old policeman -
Claude Aufaure
Doctor -
André Julien
Old Georges -
Nathalie Dalyan
Maria -
Louis Bellanti
Mario -
Bernard Robin
Renter No. 2 -
Nicolas Jalowyj
Little Nicolas -
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All Critics (26) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (7) | DVD (10)
A playful, meandering, somewhat confusing tale that hangs together as a portrait of demented love.
Top CriticIf Betty Blue feasts on the bodies of its leads, it's this director's cut that fully establishes the movie's artistic bona fides.
Curvy, ripe Dalle, only 21 at the time and in her first screen role, completely commits to the part.
The movie was colorful and swirling and oppressive all at once, and in 1991, Beineix recut it not to slim it down but to add a florid third hour.
Dalle, a model, makes a moving debut as the desperate baby-doll who fails to mold reality to her own conceptions of happiness. Anglade is more introvertedly affecting as the lucidly casual, but devoted Zorg.
If Betty Blue teaches us anything -- and there's a good chance it doesn't -- it's that life is full of little mysteries.
Introducing the world to the galvanic, incomparable Beatrice Dalle constitutes the only noteworthy facet of Betty Blue.
Flows in a lambent pop style, warm to the touch and scarily intimate
There can be beauty in tragedy, particularly when the key ingredient is the same in both
Rarely seen in this country in the intervening 23 years, Dalle gives one of the all-time-great performances as Betty.
It's a passionate love story executed in a dull fashion.
Beinex's Oscar-nominated, quintessentially French amour fou tells of a love relationship that descends into madness, splendidly played by Dalle as the free-spirited troubled femme; one scene of self-inflicted violence is truly tough to watch.
Occasionally drags and meanders, but it boasts an impressive visual style and a radiant, charismatic performance by the ultra-sexy Béatrice Dalle.
Expanded to its intended length, the movie feels not like a failed narrative hastily washed in luridness but a purposefully meandering allegory of artistic frustration.
The best thing about the film is the pouty, 21-year-old Dalle.
If Dalle never made anything of note again -- and she didn't -- then this alone would be enough to stake her claim as an icon of late 20th century cinema.
Beineix's film is awash with the humour and cool of his debut, Diva, but lacks the cohesion to sustain its weighty ambition.
Devastating.
Beineix's villagescapes and countryside vistas are hard to resist, and the dichotomy of a stone cold looney prancing around them only makes the tableau more curiously complete
Audience Reviews for 372 le Matin (Betty Blue) (37.2 Degrees in the Morning)
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Foreign Titles
- Betty Blue (DE)
- Betty Blue (UK)
Jean-Hugues Anglade shines in this French classic with a passionate, exposing performance. I wish I could say the same for Beatrice Daile who was handed a gem of a role, but she doesn't capture Betty's life, her spirit, the magic quality needed to justify Zorg putting up with her antics. If Betty Blue were Garden State and Natalie Portman's character burned down Zach Braff's house or threw all his stuff onto the lawn, we'd still understand why he'd stay with her because of her charm and wit and the excited feeling one gets from being in the presence of someone like that. Such is not the case with Daile's Betty.
I liked the film for what it tried to be more than for what it was. Betty Blue is about those relationships that send our lives into tumult but show us ways of being happy that we'd never imagined before. Yes, it descends into traditional definitions of happiness, like procreation and idyllic homes in the south of France, but there are uncommon challenges like Betty pushing Zorg out of his stagnant handyman existence.
The conclusion of the film made a twisted kind of sense, and it's only Anglade's performance that kept it from being too twisted to be sensible.
Overall, Betty Blue isn't a great film, but it tries hard enough, and I can't help thinking what another actress could have done with Betty.