Betty (Dvd/Eng-Sub)

The magnetic beauty and fragile, train-wreck-like magnetism of a down-at-heel recently exiled housewife, Betty (Marie Trintignant), is the locus of Claude Chabrol's astounding examination of sexuality, betrayal, and humanity within the dark and mysterious lower depths of the Parisian Bourgeoisie. As the film begins, the camera follows a bedraggled Betty as she enters a bar, downs several whiskies and leaves with a strange older man. Once they arrive at their destination, a seedy bar called the Hole, Betty's would-be suitor falls into a heroin-induced hallucination, as Betty consumes ungodly amounts of whiskey only to be rescued by a glamorous woman, Laure (Stephane Audran), who happens to be sitting nearby. Taking Betty back to the Hotel where she lives, Laure kindles a symbiotic friendship with Betty, based on alcohol and mutual confession. To Laure, Betty confides her life story in a series of gauzy flashbacks. As Laure attempts to protect Betty from the ravages of the outside world, Betty's trajectory from orphaned child, to promiscuous and confused woman, to caged, suburban, alcoholic housewife is played out in stuttering, overlapping remembrances, painting a perfect portrait of devastating self-loathing, confused sexual allegiances, and unloving domesticity.