Mild SPOILER insofar as the nature of the ending is mentioned
Having read several of the user comments and external reviews of "Betty Blue" it would appear this is one of those films you either love or loathe. Just to be a little different I would not leap very far in either direction, but, as I rather enjoyed it, I am prepared to stand up and be counted among the "pros". Not that I take it too seriously. It is all rather implausible and at times downright outlandish. Zorg, a beach chalet decorator, has already met Betty and they are having a wow of a time screwing every night. Betty is an impetuous vamp who seems to have appeared out of nowhere but the couple seem just right for each other. When a chalet goes up in flames they take up a semi-nomadic existence together working in a restaurant for a time and then managing a piano shop. The hard bit to swallow is that Zorg, a randy scruff who never wears underpants, has written a hefty sized book. This so surprises Betty (and the audience as well) that she manifests her delighted admiration in a mission to get the work published. All her initial efforts fail but when success eventually arrives tragedy has struck in a way that the news means nothing to her. My reason for not dismissing the film out of hand is that I find it works as a genuinely tender love story. Erotic as the sex scenes are, they are devoid of gratuitous lust because of the pleasure the couple give each other. There are many other scenes outside bedrooms where their tender companionship is portrayed. In the end my enjoyment boils down to the fact that I like the characters. This makes all the difference when extolling the virtues of popular cinema such as this along with "Forrest Gump", "Shirley Valentine" and "Mrs Doubtfire", as opposed to examples I genuinely loathe such as "The Jerk" and "The Waterboy".
Having read several of the user comments and external reviews of "Betty Blue" it would appear this is one of those films you either love or loathe. Just to be a little different I would not leap very far in either direction, but, as I rather enjoyed it, I am prepared to stand up and be counted among the "pros". Not that I take it too seriously. It is all rather implausible and at times downright outlandish. Zorg, a beach chalet decorator, has already met Betty and they are having a wow of a time screwing every night. Betty is an impetuous vamp who seems to have appeared out of nowhere but the couple seem just right for each other. When a chalet goes up in flames they take up a semi-nomadic existence together working in a restaurant for a time and then managing a piano shop. The hard bit to swallow is that Zorg, a randy scruff who never wears underpants, has written a hefty sized book. This so surprises Betty (and the audience as well) that she manifests her delighted admiration in a mission to get the work published. All her initial efforts fail but when success eventually arrives tragedy has struck in a way that the news means nothing to her. My reason for not dismissing the film out of hand is that I find it works as a genuinely tender love story. Erotic as the sex scenes are, they are devoid of gratuitous lust because of the pleasure the couple give each other. There are many other scenes outside bedrooms where their tender companionship is portrayed. In the end my enjoyment boils down to the fact that I like the characters. This makes all the difference when extolling the virtues of popular cinema such as this along with "Forrest Gump", "Shirley Valentine" and "Mrs Doubtfire", as opposed to examples I genuinely loathe such as "The Jerk" and "The Waterboy".