Young love, French love, crazy love. Well, one of them's crazy at least: the one who throws things out the window ("Your pad will look very Zen now," a neighbor remarks), and who sets the house afire on moving out, and who stabs a pizzeria patron with a fork, and who slashes a book publisher with a pocket comb — that's our Betty. Her mate can but rub sausages and tomato sauce on his face as a token of empathy. Narrated by the latter in a laconic-poetic-nihilistic style ("While we screwed, her IUD was like a broken door banging in the wind"), and laced with brutality and broad comedy, it's all a bit much — especially since it's all on the surface. (Comparison has been suggested with Last Tango in Paris, but 9-1/2 Weeks would be more like it.) Jean-Hugues Anglade and Beatrice Dalle are the uninhibited actors; Jean-Jacques Beineix directed. (1986) — Duncan Shepherd
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