Isabella So
Contributing Writer
Review
Cousin Bette is a deliciously comic romp through the territory of love and revenge. The storyline is an adaptation of the timeless classic written by Honore de Balzac.
Revenge is the sweetest thing in life next to love - and so Cousin Bette (Jessica Lange) proves the old saying with ingenious traps for lovers, suitors and seducers who inevitably get tangled in the web of her own black heart.
Lange has had a tendency lately to excel in mediocre movies (see Hush and A Thousand Acres), and Bette is not so different. The gleeful fun she has, though, is a lot more enjoyable to watch than the Mommy Dearest shenanigans viewers had to endure in Hush.
The story is set in Paris, 1846, the brink of the French Revolution. And so the tale begins with the death of Adeline Hulot (Geraldine Chaplin), sister to our central character, Cousin Bette.
A mysterious and bitter woman who has always been ridiculed by those who "love her," Bette has waited for her time and is now prepared to take action.
Academy Award-winner Lange takes deceitfulness to a delicious new level and brings out the dark and cunning side of Cousin Bette. She is joined by other talented actors portraying characters all trapped in Bette's web with their own distrustful self-intentions.
The helpless cast includes Elizabeth Shue as the ravishing yet heartless courtesan Jenny Cadine, who has her fingers entwined in the heart of the rich and libidinous Mayor Creval, played by Bob Hoskins.
Then there is Hugh Laurie (Sense and Sensibility, 101 Dalmatians) as the lovesick Baron Hulot, and trailing not far behind is Aden Young (Cosi) as Wencelas, the attractive youth who holds not only Jenny's heart but also that of his spoiled wife Hortense (Trainspotting's Kelly MacDonald).
Though set in the 1840s, the script is filled with scandal, sex, money and crimes of passion that could easily have taken place in today's society.
Cousin Bette doesn't always hit the mark, but when it does, it comes at you with fangs flared and eyes wide open.
Rated
R
Running Time
108 min
Playing
limited multiple theaters