Films involving Mental Illness

Mental Illness: Major Films

Title	Betty Blue (1986)
Alternative/Original Title	37.2 le matin
Disability	Mental
Country	France
Length	180
Genre	Drama
Rating	4
Director	Jean-Jacques Beineix
Cast	Jean-Hugues Anglade Beatrice Dalle Gerard Darmon Consuelo De Haviland Clementine Celarie Jacques Mathou
Notes	There's a shorter release of this film at 120mins. Perhaps you should see this, then if you like it look out for the director's cut. Because this is likely to be one of those films you love or hate. Zorg has a cushy life looking after holiday bungalows on the French Riviera when into his life comes Betty. She's beautiful and sexy and very quickly moves in with him. But her erratic behaviour results in his losing his job. Not quite so simple as that because when Betty rejects Zorg's boss he directs Zorg to paint every single bungalow. Zorg attempts to do this but Betty discovers he has written a novel and she (laboriously) types it and sends it off to a publisher. When it is rejected she goes bananas. After they leave the bungalows Betty's behaviour goes downhill until she's quite insane. The acting and directing is superb but your liking of the film may depend on your attitude to the two main characters. As a study of a decline into insanity this film rates highly. There is no glib explanation of why Betty goes down this road.

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