Alias Betty (Betty Fisher et autres histoires) (Betty Fisher and Other Stories) (2001)
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92% of critics liked it
(51 reviews) -
56% of users liked it
(738 ratings)
A woman's grief and her mother's madness lead to strange and unforeseen consequences in this offbeat drama based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Betty Fisher (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a promising young writer who has a four-year-old son, Joseph (Arthur Setbon). Betty's mother, Margot (Nicole… More A woman's grief and her mother's madness lead to strange and unforeseen consequences in this offbeat drama based on a novel by Ruth Rendell. Betty Fisher (Sandrine Kiberlain) is a promising young writer who has a four-year-old son, Joseph (Arthur Setbon). Betty's mother, Margot (Nicole Garcia), comes to visit her from Spain. Betty's relationship with Margot is difficult at best; Margot is emotionally unstable, and once attacked her daughter with a pair of scissors when she was a child. While spending time with Margot, Betty loses track of Joseph for a while, and the boy is severely injured when he falls out of a window. While Joseph is rushed to the hospital, he never regains consciousness and dies later that day. Betty is understandably distraught, and as she sinks deep in sorrow, Margot snatches Jose (Alexis Chatrian), a boy the same age as Joseph who is the son of Carole (Mathilde Seigner), a waitress with a serious drug habit who often delegates care of her child to her new boyfriend, Francois (Luck Mervil). Margot claims that Jose deserves a better parent than Carole, and she gives him to Betty to care for; while Betty is fully aware of the impropriety of Margot's action, the loss of Joseph has left such a void in her life that she reluctantly accepts the child as a way of dealing with her sadness. Betty Fisher et Autres Histoires was directed by one-time Francois Truffaut associate Claude Miller. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Claude Miller
- Written By
- Claude Miller
- Genres
- Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Mar 15, 2002 Wide
- Studio
- Wellspring
Critic Reviews
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Ed Siegel, Boston Globe
A pleasant enough valentine to Rendell's The Tree of Hands, if a story that deals with child abuse and sexual obsession could be described in those terms.
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Matt Weitz, Dallas Morning News
Understated, elegant meditation on motherhood, obligation and coincidence, all wrapped up in the form of an urban thriller.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
The story pulls us in almost immediately -- and the style and cast keep us hooked.
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Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times
Miller tells this very compelling tale with little fuss or noise, expertly plucking tension from quiet.
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Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
A provocative movie about loss, anger, greed, jealousy, sickness and love.
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Cast
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Sandrine Kiberlain
as Betty Fisher
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Nicole Garcia
as Margot Fisher
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Mathilde Seigner
as Carole Novacki
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Luck Mervil
as Francois Diembele
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Edouard Baer
as Alex Basato
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Stephane Freiss
as Edouard
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Roschdy Zem
as Dr. Jerome Castang
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Alexis Chatrian
as Jose Novacki
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Arthur Setbon
as Joseph Fisher
