About

A tour-de-force of emotional intensity, oozing ‘I woke up like this’ Euro style, Betty Blue is an exploration of the quintessentially French concept of amour fou (mad love): the lusty type of attraction that drives people to romantic and uncontrollable extremes.

Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) is an aspiring writer making a living as a handyman in a seaside town on the French Mediterranean coast. The magnetic Betty walks through his door, and so begins an erotically charged whirlwind of a story. The couple move across France, working restaurant jobs and running a piano shop, while Zorg hopefully plugs away at his manuscript. The two fiercely embrace their new relationship while trying to make sense of it all in the shadow of psychological struggle.

Amidst the turmoil, director Jean-Jacques Beineix paints an achingly romantic vision of their world. Beautiful images, such as pink beach huts drenched in sunset light, or a young woman in a red dress leaning against a lemon-yellow car, have the hyperreal quality of cherished memories.

The film’s driving force is an explosive and incandescent performance by Beatrice Dalle as Betty. Dalle deeply inhabits the passionate titular character, a remarkable achievement for her acting debut.

R18+ | Medium level sex scenes