Discussion Anyone seen/ remember Betty Blue?

[MeltingHeart]

Betty Blue is a 1986 French film- kind of an erotic psycholoical drama/ romance. The young women in it clearly suffers from what I think nowadays would be diagnosed as either Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (as she does say she hears voices), she swerves from seeminly extreme happiness to deep sadness from one moment to the next and exhiibts very volatile behaviour, eventually during a bad spell she gouged one eye out and is hospitalised, her partner is told she may never get her sanity back- it is not made implicit if it was her existing mental problems or the medication that has driven her over the edge-whilst she is in the hospital her byfd in desperation smothers her with a pillow until she dies-whilst sobbing deeply the whole time-he doesnt want to do it- he loves her deeply- he had stated before that she was the only good thing in his life- yet he can see that she is suffering too much and will be unlikely to ever recover- he loves her so much he does not want her to be in such pain anymore...obvs, its a film and it ends there..so you dont see him bein prosecuted for man slaughter/ murder or whatever...and its a tragic ending but still ultimately a romance- he greatly wanted her in his life-but could see she would not be able to be happy now-and she was getting worst, he did it for her-he accepted there was no hope left for her & decided it was best for her to be at peace-the peace that would always be out of arms reach in her life. It a heart-wrenching story and a wonderful film.

 

[charlie_z]

Betty Blue is a 1986 French film- kind of an erotic psycholoical drama/ romance. The young women in it clearly suffers from what I think nowadays would be diagnosed as either Bipolar disorder or schizophrenia (as she does say she hears voices), she swerves from seeminly extreme happiness to deep sadness from one moment to the next and exhiibts very volatile behaviour, eventually during a bad spell she gouged one eye out and is hospitalised, her partner is told she may never get her sanity back- it is not made implicit if it was her existing mental problems or the medication that has driven her over the edge-whilst she is in the hospital her byfd in desperation smothers her with a pillow until she dies-whilst sobbing deeply the whole time-he doesnt want to do it- he loves her deeply- he had stated before that she was the only good thing in his life- yet he can see that she is suffering too much and will be unlikely to ever recover- he loves her so much he does not want her to be in such pain anymore...obvs, its a film and it ends there..so you dont see him bein prosecuted for man slaughter/ murder or whatever...and its a tragic ending but still ultimately a romance- he greatly wanted her in his life-but could see she would not be able to be happy now-and she was getting worst, he did it for her-he accepted there was no hope left for her & decided it was best for her to be at peace-the peace that would always be out of arms reach in her life. It a heart-wrenching story and a wonderful film.

I absolutely love this movie for any number of reasons: both the male and female leads give powerfully sustained emotional performances; part of it is situated in the south of France which, for someone who's always lived in cities, is one of the most stunning stretches of land I've ever seen; finally, it came out the year I was officially diagnosed with severe depression. Just thinking about it brings back nice memories. It may sound strange saying that, but when you're young you manage to romanticize the pain. I think Betty had a little of that in her. Thanks for stirring up a nice memory.

 

[MeltingHeart]

I absolutely love this movie for any number of reasons: both the male and female leads give powerfully sustained emotional performances; part of it is situated in the south of France which, for someone who's always lived in cities, is one of the most stunning stretches of land I've ever seen; finally, it came out the year I was officially diagnosed with severe depression. Just thinking about it brings back nice memories. It may sound strange saying that, but when you're young you manage to romanticize the pain. I think Betty had a little of that in her. Thanks for stirring up a nice memory.

Ah so glad my post resonated with one person atleast, yea beautiful leads, beautiful location & beautiful (all be it painful) story.