Alias Betty (2001)

Grieving after the death of her young son Joseph, novelist Betty Fisher enters a dark depression. Hoping to bring her out of it, her mother Margot arranges to kidnap another child, Jose, to... See full summary »

Director:

Claude Miller

Writers:

Claude Miller, Ruth Rendell (novel)

Stars:

Sandrine Kiberlain, Nicole Garcia, Mathilde Seigner

4 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandrine Kiberlain	...	Betty Fisher
Nicole Garcia	...	Margot Fisher
Mathilde Seigner	...	Carole Novacki
Luck Mervil	...	François Diembele
Edouard Baer	...	Alex Basato (as Édouard Baer)
Stéphane Freiss	...	Edouard
Yves Jacques	...	René the Canadian
Roschdy Zem	...	Dr. Jerome Castang
Consuelo De Haviland	...	Madame Barsky
Yves Verhoeven	...	Martinaud
Annie Mercier	...	Jacqueline
Alexis Chatrian	...	Jose Novacki
Enzo Crebessegues	...	Child
Arthur Setbon	...	Joseph Fisher
Réva Rothstein	...	Child

Storyline

Grieving after the death of her young son Joseph, novelist Betty Fisher enters a dark depression. Hoping to bring her out of it, her mother Margot arranges to kidnap another child, Jose, to replace the son Betty lost. Although she knows it's wrong, Betty accepts Jose as her new son. Meanwhile, Jose's mother Carole is looking for her son with the help of her boyfriend Francois and some of his criminal cohorts.

---

Plot Keywords:

child | novelist | depression | death | criminal | 

---

Taglines:

Crimes of passion are not always between lovers.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene in which Alex goes to the bookshelf and pulls down a book in which some money is hidden, all the books on that shelf are by Ruth Rendell, who wrote the book this film was based on. The cover of the French version of that book, entitled 'Jeux des Mains', is prominently displayed when he pulls down the book.

---

Connections

Version of Innocent Victim (1989)

User Reviews

Subtle with emotions: famous daughter loses her son, her strange mother finds a substitute from the destitute

Set in France, and Paris, but not the usual one. Instead, we see the suburbia, and the projects. A rich woman, famous by a best-seller novel talking about her experience on NY, gets her strange mother at the airport, with her 4-year old son. Strange? A lot! Not crazy, but almost... The boy dies, and strange as she is she tries to mend her daughter's loss with a substitute: she kidnaps a boy of the same age and fit from a woman living on a project, almost a whore. One other story! More will follow, all nicely intertwined. Nice characters, the mothers, all of them, the lovers, all of them...

Details

Country:

France Canada

Language:

French

Release Date:

13 September 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alias Betty

Filming Locations:

Quebec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

FRF50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$23,929, 15 September 2002

Gross USA:

$208,400

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$676,239

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, France 2 Cinéma, Go Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color