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IMDbPro

Cousin Bette

  • 19981998
  • RR
  • 1h 48m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
26,750
1,361
Elisabeth Shue and Jessica Lange in Cousin Bette (1998)
Theatrical Trailer from Fox Searchlight Pictures
Play trailer1:34
1 Video
40 Photos
ComedyDramaRomance
When her sister dies in 1846, Bette moves from the château to Paris to work as a theater seamstress. She helps a handsome, starving artist. When her niece lures him away from her, she plans ... Read allWhen her sister dies in 1846, Bette moves from the château to Paris to work as a theater seamstress. She helps a handsome, starving artist. When her niece lures him away from her, she plans a devious revenge.When her sister dies in 1846, Bette moves from the château to Paris to work as a theater seamstress. She helps a handsome, starving artist. When her niece lures him away from her, she plans a devious revenge.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
26,750
1,361
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Des McAnuff
    • Writers
      • Honoré de Balzac(novel)
      • Lynn Siefert(screenplay)
      • Susan Tarr(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Jessica Lange
      • Elisabeth Shue
      • Bob Hoskins
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Des McAnuff
    • Writers
      • Honoré de Balzac(novel)
      • Lynn Siefert(screenplay)
      • Susan Tarr(screenplay)
    • Stars
      • Jessica Lange
      • Elisabeth Shue
      • Bob Hoskins
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 31User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination

    Videos1

    Cousin Bette
    Trailer 1:34
    Cousin Bette

    Photos40

    1 sheet
    Cousin Bette (1998)
    Cousin Bette (1998)
    Elisabeth Shue and Jessica Lange in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Elisabeth Shue and Jessica Lange in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Cousin Bette (1998)
    Cousin Bette (1998)
    Kelly Macdonald in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Kelly Macdonald in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Kelly Macdonald in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Kelly Macdonald in Cousin Bette (1998)
    Kelly Macdonald and Aden Young in Cousin Bette (1998)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jessica Lange
    Jessica Lange
    • Bette
    Elisabeth Shue
    Elisabeth Shue
    • Jenny Cadine
    Bob Hoskins
    Bob Hoskins
    • Crevel
    Geraldine Chaplin
    Geraldine Chaplin
    • Adeline
    John Benfield
    John Benfield
    • Dr. Bianchon
    Hugh Laurie
    Hugh Laurie
    • Hector
    Paul Bandey
    Paul Bandey
    • Priest
    Laura Fraser
    Laura Fraser
    • Mariette
    Toby Stephens
    Toby Stephens
    • Victorin
    Kelly Macdonald
    Kelly Macdonald
    • Hortense
    Janie Hargreaves
    • Célestine
    Gillian Martell
    • Portress
    John Sessions
    John Sessions
    • Musical Director
    Henrik Wager
    • Baritone
    Aden Young
    Aden Young
    • Wenceslas
    John Quentin
    • Elderly Aristocrat
    Jefferson Mays
    Jefferson Mays
    • Stidmann
    Tim Barlow
    Tim Barlow
    • De Forzheim
    • Director
      • Des McAnuff
    • Writers
      • Honoré de Balzac(novel)
      • Lynn Siefert(screenplay)
      • Susan Tarr(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Melanie Lynskey was considered for the role of Hortense Hulot.
    • Quotes

      Mlle. Elisabeth 'Bette' Fisher: For the sake of their pleasure, men commit the most appalling crimes.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: The Truman Show/The Last Days of Disco/A Perfect Murder/The Opposite of Sex/Hope Floats (1998)
    • Soundtracks
      The Other Side of Heaven
      Performed by Elisabeth Shue

      Music and Lyrics by Danny Troob and Des McAnuff

      Adapted from the music of Jacques Offenbach

      Produced by Simon Boswell

    User reviews31

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    Genteel Carnage Among the Upper Crust
    Most costume dramas about a poor relation follow a similar trail: The poor one, filled with high expectations and good intentions, gets the money and true love by suffering through a series of pitfalls, only to be winking at the audience by the ending credits. Our Cousin Bette gets there, but she chooses another road, perhaps more hazardous, but infinitely more entertaining for us.

    This fascinating tale is about a relative who is treated poorly by everyone in her aristocratic family, while they themselves live in debt, denial, and high fashion. Jessica Lange plays the title character with a cynical smirk, as though she's daring every one to call her out, yet she knows – only too well - that people are so consumed by their own personal dramas that they ignore the fine details.

    Described as "the bad seed who refused to blossom", Bette is the sister of Adeline, who languidly takes her time dying, while instructing her spinster sibling as to what flowers to lay on her casket. One look at the two – Adeline in her death-bed finery and Bette, in a basic drab dress, devoid of any adornment – and it's all too evident where the balance of power resides.

    Bette: (to Jenny) "How could you know? You don't know who I was sacrificed to – to Adeline. They slapped me and caressed her. I went dressed like a wretch and she like a fine lady. Adeline, the garden, peel the vegetables, Bette. She never lifted a finger except to tie her ribbons."

    Describing herself as a "country peasant", Bette lives in the slums of Paris, working as a costume seamstress to the reigning burlesque star of the day, Jenny Cadine (played by Elizabeth Shue), who vainly shows off her derrière before every final curtain is rung down. Jenny puts off the ticking clock of time by enjoying the attentions of her many rich – and generous - admirers, yet one fateful day encounters her worst nightmare.

    Jenny: "I'm 24…I may as well be dead."

    Bette: "You were 24 years old yesterday and it didn't seem to bother you then."

    Jenny: "Today, while I was walking in the park, I came across a hideous old woman, face swollen and scratched; she stank of stale wine and sweat. In her filthy tresses she had placed a beauty patch, one red camellia I knew at once who she was - she was known as Carabine, the most famous courtesan in Paris. Everyone envied her dazzling shoulders, her milky skin. She had a neck so smooth it might have been turned on a lathe. Her trademark was a red beauty patch, a red camellia."

    'Carabine? Is that you?', I asked.

    'No, there is no Carabine, she has left me.'

    Originally a novel by French author, Honore de Balzac, this modern version boasts an international cast of talent. Bob Hoskins (Cesar Crevel), Hugh Laurie (Baron Hector Hulot), Aden Young (Wenceslas), Kelly Macdonald (Hortense Hulot), and Geraldine Chaplin (Adeline Hulot) all twist and turn in time to Bette's song of vengeance. Set in Paris, during the pre-revolutionary period of 1846, screenwriters Seifert and Tarr turn Balzac's morality tale into a microcosm of the class resentments barely simmering just beneath the pearls and petticoats of Bette's shadow world. Yet she's nothing if not flexible, as she revises her best-laid plans in the face of cross and double-cross by family and high society associates alike.

    Bette: "I'll see them – all of them – in the dust! We're both daughters of the soil, and blood of the voge, and do you trust me, as a sister?"

    Jenny: "Yes…"

    Bette: "And will you help me, as you would a sister?"

    Jenny: "Yes…"

    Bette: "Then you will be the ax and I'll be the hand that wields it."

    Surrounded by people with their own notions of power, Bette plays nonstop Powernoply until she wins all, while the French Revolution rages. She's able to play upon the passions of her tormentors and deftly manages to wreck her subtle brand of ruthless revenge upon one and all, causing adultery, a duel, physical illness, embezzlement, financial ruin, imprisonment in the Bastille, and a crime of passion - all of which sees her contentedly sewing in the grand house, dressed in her own silken finery, cooing to a child who's the product of this genteel carnage.
    helpful•4
    5
    • OutsideHollywoodLand
    • Sep 28, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 12, 1998 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official site
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Кузина Бетта
    • Filming locations
      • Bordeaux, Gironde, France
    • Production company
      • Fox Searchlight Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,295,194
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $76,488
      • Jun 14, 1998
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,295,194
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 48 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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