FREE ON CINEGEEK.De Jean-Jacques Beineix - Betty Blue 

Love is not synonymous with nudity. A basically obvious fact, which Jean-Jacques Beineix refuses to accept. He has filmed a romantic obsession - with a lot of naked skin. It was the Frenchman's third work, who revamped French cinema during the 80s, but was also laughed at by many cineasts. Beineix polarizes and he does that with Betty Blue. At the beginning we see how a couple loves each other under the portrait of Mona Lisa. The narrator introduces us, they would do this every night. The sex scene lasts for minutes and even today, 30 years later, it is still unusually revealing! By the way, the narrator is the man in bed. His name is Zorg and he is played by Jean-Hughes Anglade. He lives with Betty in a prefabricated house on the beach (both have only known each other for a week). Outside the season there are only a few neighbours, basically they are alone. Zorg is exploited by his greasy landlord. He works as a kind of caretaker and is now supposed to paint all 30 bungalows - by the way. Betty hates the landlord, throws him out of the house naked, pours a bucket of pink paint over his car and burns down a cabin. Anyway, she's not easy. Zorg has to watch as she throws all his stuff out of Fesnter. But suddenly she finds his manuscript. From that moment on Betty Zorg thinks he is a genius and cares for him. Although he asserts that no publisher is interested and that he has never written anything again - for Betty Zorg's brilliance is now out of the question. Who is wondering in which world such a story should play? In no real one. Who would endure a violent and impulsive woman like Betty in the long run? Basically nothing works outside the bed. Whoever read the underlying novel by Philippe Djian soon knows that Betty is suffering from mental illness. The reader becomes aware that she is abusing medicines and is in a downward spiral. Everyone notices that, except Zorg. I have always been able to show little interest in this character, as he has almost masochistic traits. Just a blind lover? Or is there more? But the questions don't arise, because Betty Blue plays in a different world. It is Betty's world. She is played by Beatrice Dalle, around whom a cult quickly developed. In the film she appears as often naked as dressed (the same goes for Zorg). In the 80's many articles appeared that portrayed Betty Blue as a feminist film. All this misses the heart of the work: Betty Blue is Beatrice Dalle's film and she looks best naked. Betty Blue is above all a film about her curves! Beineix draws on the tradition of nude films, which had been shown in train station cinemas a decade earlier. These skin flicks had a certain animal character and that comes through in Betty's being. Betty Blue marks a turning point. The French Arthaus film is no longer synonymous with Art. Arthaus in the sense of Betty Blue means above all a lot of skin. Every "Cinephile" knew this and could use it as a shield. You didn't have to expose yourself any more and sneak into the station cinema. Betty Blue ran quite comfortably in the arthouse cinemas. A comic for adults - garish and obscene and incredibly beautiful!