Cousin Bette

Director:	Des McAnuff
Writers:	Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr
Director of Photography:	Andrzej Sekula
Editor:	Barry Brown
Music:	Simon Boswell
Production Designer:	Hugo Luczyc-Wyhowski
Producers:	Sarah Radclyffe and Philippe Guez
	Fox Searchlight Pictures; R; 112 minutes
Release:	6/98
Cast:	Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Shue, Bob Hoskins, Hugh Laurie, Aden Young, Kelly Macdonald and Geraldine Chaplin
	Based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac

Jessica Lange plays Bette, a bitter Parisian spinster who seeks revenge on her snobbish relatives for treating her like a servant. To assist her in her schemes, she enlists a sculptor named Wenceslas (Young) and the two attempt to wreak havoc in various social circles. Based on the rather dense 19th century novel by Balzac, there are a host of minor characters and plot lines, all meant to be mischievous and erotic. But Lange, Young and Shue (who plays a high-class courtesan) spoil the mood with one too many decidedly unsexy displays of histrionics.

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