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Cousin Bette Dir: Des McAnuff Stars: Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Shue, Hugh Laurie, Bob Hoskins "I'll take care of them. I'll take care of all of them." So Bette Fisher promises her sister as she lies on her deathbed. Bette will take care of her husband, Baron Hector Hulot, her daughter, Hortense, and everyone else in the family. She'll even take care of the young artist living above her in her filthy little apartment, and her sister doesn't even know him. It's a promise that will take Bette and everyone around her to the depths of treachery and disgrace. You see, Cousin Bette was always the plain one. Her sister got all the attention, and she was virtually locked away from the world. With her sister out of the way, Bette finally sees her future getting brighter. She will finally take her place at the head of the family, and she's so close when Baron Hulot tells her of his proposition. Then she learns Hulot wants her as a housekeeper, not a wife. It is the final indignity that sets off Bette's vindictive nature, and it doesn't take much to make her list. Des McAnuff's adaptation of Honore de Balzac's tale of vengeance has a lot going for it. Jessica Lange heads up a great cast as Cousin Bette, flashing her best insane smile and putting just enough chill in her voice. And the story is loaded with twists and turns. As Cousin Bette's schemes get more complex and spiteful, they end up hurting her as much as the clueless family she is setting them upon. And McAnuff has a good sense of how to keep a brisk pace. Even the recreation of 1846 Paris is well done. But there are a few nagging drawbacks that keep this from being a great movie. First, Elisabeth Shue seems out of place in a period piece. She's a fine actress and handles her role as Jenny Cadine, the vain courtesan, with all the necessary abandon flare. Still, she seems more like the American great granddaughter of her character - the spirit is dead-on, but her voice and demeanor don't seem to jibe with the world around her. Part of the problem may have been the production itself. I was surprised to find a dialogue coach in the credits at all, since everyone in the movie had their own accent. Only Adam Young, playing the starving artist Count Wenceslas Steinbach, sounds like a true denizen of Paris. I know Paris has been, historically, a very cosmopolitan city, but if one guy has a French accent, and most others have an aristocratic English accent... Well, again, it just doesn't seem to jibe. McAnuff previously directed the stage version of Tommy, and he hasn't left that attitude on the floorboards. Certain scenes are blown up to more than life-size proportions with swirling music on cue and drunken cameras, circling around a young couples' embrace. People in the back row of a movie theater can see just as well as those in the front, but McAnuff makes it big, just in case. In the end, the movie's faults are forgivable. It's still a great story, and still done well enough, if a bit rough around the edges. -Nick |
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