paul2001sw-1
Claude Miller's film, 'Betty Fisher and Other Stories' is both clever and supremely watchable, featuring a carefully (though not overdone) interlinked set of stories involving interesting and original characters, who attract varying degrees of sympathy from their audience, and set in a very believable rendering of modern Paris. Yet perhaps because it follows so many stories there's a sense that it skims lightly over them all: I didn't care so powerfully about any individual in the film. The result is a movie that's darkly entertaining, uniformly well-acted and skillfully directed, but emotionally detached.
HayleyM1004
In the case of Alias Betty, I doubt that life would imitate art...what do I mean by this...well, crimes are committed everyday...murders, thefts, kidnappings...but do we ever feel empathetic with the criminal who commits these acts...in a word, NO! In this foreign film by Claude Miller, he managed to weave several story lines that showed dysfunction to the max. It was a bit difficult to feel any empathy at first with the main character's emotional pain as the character seemed so dispassionate. As the story evolved it was plain to see that the horrific crime committed by the character's mother in hopes of easing her child's pain, or perhaps her own might have been the best solution for all involved. Perhaps the moral of this story is that one doesn't have to be the birth parent to provide a loving and secure home for a child...anyone can be a parent, but not everyone knows how to parent. This film was extremely well done and will leave the viewer with much to think about.
George Parker
"Alias Betty", a mediocre French flick which tells of a woman whose son dies and is replaced with a kidnapped kid by her mother and the ramifications of same and examinations of the goings-on in the lives of the people connected to the principals, this flick is a choppy and bland bit of nervous monotony and little more. Combine that with a subtitle a second such that it's difficult to study facial expressions and mannerisms and "Alias Betty" simply isn't worth the effort required. Recommended only for French film enthusiasts, French speakers, and fans of the principals and Miler's work. (C+)
chanrion_d
This film really questions the sense of the "societally approved" justice and morality by an intriguing inquiry into the theme of motherhood. And it leaves you strained, confused and amused ! The film beautifully combines a tragedy with absurdity, and shows a witty balance of refrained emotion and black humor.The plot is made of a main story that could be summarized as a tragedy, which will have a domino effect, hence the different sub-plots, that ultimately merge in an unexpected ending, which then reflects a new light back upon the rest of the movie ! That's where the main problem of the film is, the coincidences at the end look a bit far-fetched and over-the-top but are still believable. Otherwise the directing is great and this films looks like a suspense thriller, a French one however, which means a lot of talk at the beginning. But don't be put off, it's highly rewarding.I could not commend enough how the acting here is excellent and realistic. The director paints a bunch of dysfunctional characters that all have something to hide. A sharp look at our modern society.to sum up : an intriguing suspense film that questions the society's self-righteousness (and ours) (8 out of 10)
AD
