A psychological drama come character study from director Claude Chabrol, based on the book by Georges Simenon. Betty begins with an obviously broken woman being picked up in a bar. One thing leads to another and she eventually ends up in the care of an older alcoholic. It's a fragmented narrative, cutting present events with various flashbacks explaining how Betty got into the situation that she now finds herself. The film presents itself as an attack on the bourgeoisie, surely a favourite subject for the director. The story sees Betty integrated into a wealthy family who clearly don't value her; she's sidelined and her motherly duties taken away. The film really goes to great lengths to paint her as the victim in the story - generally delivering the outcomes before explaining how we got there. Marie Trintignant is a revelation in the lead; perfectly depicting her character's vulnerabilities and darker elements. As the narrative plays out it gradually becomes clear that all is not quite as it initially seemed. The film cleverly exerts suspense from what seemed like a fairly straightforward portrait of a character, leading up to a real insidious and subversive ending that draws everything about her place in the story into question.
