37°2 le matin (1986) - film review

Zorg and Betty eke out an existence maintaining seaside holiday bungalows in the South of France.  After a dispute with Zorg’s boss, the two return to Paris to start a new life.  Having chanced upon the manuscript of a novel that Zorg wrote before meeting her, Betty is convinced that her lover has a promising career as a writer and pushes him to submit his novel for publication.  More realistic, Zorg is content to work as a waiter in a restaurant for his friend Eddy.  As the rejection slips for Zorg’s novel mount up, Betty starts to lose her grip on reality...

After the comparative failure of his second film, La Lune dans le caniveau (1983), French film director Jean-Jacques Beineix managed to redeem himself in the eyes of both critics and cinema-goers with his third film, 37°2 le matin.  The film manages successfully to combine the glossy production values of Beineix’s first film, Diva (1981), with the naïve poetry he sought to evoke in his second.

Renamed "Betty Blue" for its American release, this was to become a hugely popular cult film on both sides of the Atlantic, although critics were divided, some citing it as a masterpiece, others dismissing it as little more than a stylish piece of erotica.  The film’s standing has perhaps improved following the release in 1991 of the director’s cut version, which adds an extra hour of material.  This includes the touching scene where Betty kidnaps a young child and the tragicomic segment where Zorg pulls off a bank robbery dressed as a woman.

Despite its length (over three hours) and unhurried pace, the uncut version of the film is constantly mesmerising, thanks mainly to the high quality photography and excellent acting performances.  Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade are perfectly cast as Betty and Zorg and have no difficulty holding our attention as they portray the moving story of a couple overwhelmed by an existentialist yearning for an unattainable better life.  The film’s darker moments are sensitively counter-balanced by some pleasing comic touches, and it is only the film’s unrealistic melodramatic ending which tarnishes an otherwise commendable piece of cinema.

© James Travers 2002

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