Cousin Bette: Movie, DVD Review (2009)

Directed by Des McAnuff, written by Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr, based on the novel by Honore de Balzac, 108 minutes, rated R.

There are so many evil machinations, so much caterwauling, greed, spiteful wrongdoing, messy sex, bared bottoms, bared teeth and triumphant hissy fits in director Des McAnuff’s campy interpretation of Balzac’s “Cousin Bette,” one can almost feel the spirit of Aaron Spelling hovering over the production, whipping and snapping at the actors like some clownish muse.

The film feels like an 1840s version of Spelling’s popular, beautifully over-the-top series “Dynasty,” which ran for too long on television, but which always could be counted on for its tomfoolery, spiteful wrongdoing, messy sex, and, well, you get the idea.

Happily, this bizarre adaptation of “Cousin Bette,” which stars Jessica Lange in the title role, offers the same surreal type of trumped-up fun that made “Dynasty” a hit. None of what unfolds here is to believed, which is perhaps the greatest compliment the film could be given.

Essentially, the film is about a tragic, bitchy old maid (Lange) who exacts revenge on her family for destroying her chances at having a romantic life. She exists in a sort of restrained temper-tantrum--that is, of course, until the end, when Cousin Bette, rising to her full power, levels her family in one dramatic swoop.

Grade: B