Other Titles • Betty Fisher et autres histoires • Alias Betty • Betty Fisher and Other Stories
Synopses for Alias Betty (2001)
1.
This smooth and smart French thriller combines Robert Altman's style of juggling multiple storylines with Alfred Hitchcock's genius for psychological tension. After Betty Fisher (Sandrine Kiberlain) loses her son to an accident, her mentally unstable mother (Nicole Garcia) kidnaps a similar-looking boy from a poor neighborhood of Paris, setting in motion a kaleidoscope of stories involving the kidnapped boy's trashy mother (who doesn't particularly miss the child), her boyfriend (who becomes the prime suspect in the investigation), the kidnapped boy's possible father (a gigolo whose current paramour cuts off funds), and Betty's ex-husband (a reptilian writer who tries to blackmail Betty into resuming their relationship). Intricate and completely involving, Alias Betty (also called Betty Fisher and Other Stories) is directed with consummate skill by Claude Miller. None of the actors try to make you like them, which makes this dazzling mix of difficult, foolish, and downright nasty people utterly fascinating. --Bret Fetzer
2.
Director Claude Miller was a protégé of Francois Truffaut, and the French master’s influence is clear in this low-key thriller, based on the novel THE TREE OF HANDS by Ruth Rendell. Betty (Sandrine Kiberlain), a reclusive best-selling author and mother of a young son, is having a hard enough time dealing with a visit from her eccentric and self-involved mother, Margot (Nicole Garcia), who suffers from a blood disorder that occasionally makes her violent. Betty has the scars from her childhood to prove it. When Betty’s son is suddenly and tragically killed, Margot doesn’t seem very sympathetic. This story is intertwined with the story of Carole (Mathilde Seigner of WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY), the neglectful and abusive mother of Jose (Alexis Chatrian), who is about the same age as Betty’s son. When Margot, in a deranged effort to help her daughter, kidnaps Jose, Carole’s good-natured African boyfriend, Francois (Luck Mervil) is a prime suspect, and goes looking for the real kidnapper to clear his name. Miller deftly weaves an engaging and suspenseful tale in which characters of different classes and cultures pass through each other's lives. While some of them behave atrociously, Miller never forgets their essential humanity.
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