Betty (film)
Betty is a 1992 French psychological drama film written and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on the 1961 novel of the same title by Georges Simenon. The film stars Marie Trintignant and Stéphane Audran, with Jean-François Garreaud, Yves Lambrecht, Christiane Minazzoli and Pierre Vernier. It was released in France on 19 February 1992 by MK2 Diffusion. Plot
Betty, a young alcoholic woman, is caught cold while cheating on her bourgeois husband. Wasting no time, he and his family arrange a quick divorce settlement, ousting her from home and keeping her away from the two children the couple have. One night she ends up in a restaurant called Le Trou (The Hole), where she meets Laure, an older woman, an alcoholic herself. Laure decides to take care of Betty after hearing the heart-breaking stories of her being a victim of her husband's rich and ruthless high society family. Betty receives care and friendship from Laure, who's in a relationship with Mario, the restaurant's owner. Betty's envy toward Laure, especially regarding her relationship with Mario, grows each day and eventually drives Betty to contrive the means to conquer her new friend's lover. Laure realizes she has made a mistake by trusting Betty, and things soon begin to fall apart between them. Betty's true colors are now visible and she sees her life at a point of no return, as she has selfishly stomped on the last chance she had of being a better person. Cast
 Marie Trintignant as Betty Etamble
 Stéphane Audran as Laure
 Jean-François Garreaud as Mario
  as Guy Etamble
 Christiane Minazzoli as Madame Etamble
 Pierre Vernier as Le médecin
  as Frédéric
 Thomas Chabrol as Schwartz
 Yves Verhoeven as Philippe

Reception
Lawrence O'Toole of Entertainment Weekly rated the film a B+, calling it "[d]isturbing, compelling, and very smart" and praising Trintignant's performance as "smashing". In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert described the film as a story of intertwined surprises, a film that doesn't have a plot per se. The story is a chain reaction of events as this is the story of a woman who keeps tripping over her own faults and reckless behavior. Megan Rosenfeld of The Washington Post felt that Trintignant "brings little to the role beyond her beauty, including a curvaceous figure (fully visible)." John Simon of the National Review, in addition to praising the performances of Trintignant and Audran, described Betty as "one of the most well-behavedly bone-chilling horror stories of all time". References

External links
 
 
 

1992 films
1992 drama films
1990s French films
1990s French-language films
1990s psychological drama films
Films about alcoholism
Films based on Belgian novels
Films based on works by Georges Simenon
Films directed by Claude Chabrol
Films produced by Marin Karmitz
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Paris
France 3 Cinéma films
French psychological drama films