Rating: 
Summary: Absolute trash!
Review: I'll never forget the Masterpiece Theater mini-series from 1971. It was a sheer delight. Jessica Lange's Bette is a defanged, declawed pussy cat when compared to Margaret Tyzack's fierce tigeress whose fangs and claws are lethally sharp and carefully concealed. I keep hoping PBS will rebroadcast the original series. Until then, forget the insipid movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Balzac's Novel is Superior
Review: Jessica Lang's performance is absoutely stunning! The costumes are exquisite. The locales are unbelievable. The story is complex and pulls you in everytime. The emotions are deep and strong. Why then is this film not a masterpiece? In my opinion, it is because they "modernized" the novel too much and left out some pretty important parts; such as Jenny & Crevel's marriage and contracted diseases at the end of the film. The elderly Hulot is a deaf, bumbling old fool in the film while in the novel he is a stern, disciplined man of high honor and integrity. The entire bare-buttocks routine by Jenny Cadine, as idiotic as it is, is also not a part of the original book. This film held very great potential to be a modern masterpiece; a sort of French equivalent of 1939's "Gone With the Wind", but ends-up being a sort of period-piece/soap opera with a big budget. It fails to be humorous while it also fails to be serious. It lies in-between in a sort of caricatured universe of 2-dimensional cartoon characters, some evil, some wholesome. Seeing the story portrayed this way gave me a brilliant idea: why not have Disney use the story as the setting for their next feature-length animated picture? In that sense, the dumbing-down of this in-depth story makes sense and would work. As it is, I only give this film a marginal thumbs-up mainly for Jessica Lang, who is spectacular here. For her alone, this is indeed an oscar performance of excellence!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent drama about a hauntingly psychopathic villainess
Review: Jessica Lange gives an absolutely mesmerizing performance as an extremely dangerous, shrewd, and mentally disturbed woman. In the drama Jessica, as Cousin Bette, saves a young artist from an attempted suicide and believes that his life belongs to her. Later Jessica's younger cousin steals the artist from Cousin Bette and there begins a tale of revenge. And revenge, as the Italian proverb states, "is a dish that people of taste prefer to eat cold". Jessica then plots how to destroy those who have caused her emotional pain. There are no limits to the events that she cleverly orchestrates in the background including murder. Jessica validates the saying that "Hell hath no fury as that of woman scorned". Jessica Lange won an Oscar for her performance in "Blue Sky"; however I believe her performance as "Cousin Bette" is even better.
Rating: 
Summary: An Overlooked Gem from 1998
Review: Jessica Lange gives one of her strongest performances in this brutally funny revenge story. This period piece has more in common with "Jackie Brown" than it does Merchant-Ivory films. I hope this movie will be rediscovered someday.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid Dark Comedy
Review: Jessica Lange has never been scarier than here in this adaptation of Balzac's revenge novel. This is one of those stories, like "I, Claudius", where everyone gets their just desserts in a very entertaining way. You get to watch from a god-like perch as Lange plots the destruction of everyone who ever abused her. Elizabeth Shue is delectable as a Parisian courtesan. And britcom fans will delight in Hugh Laurie's performance as the foolish, lecherous head of the family. This is one of those hidden treasures that you have to seek out, but you will be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Splendid Dark Comedy
Review: Jessica Lange has never been scarier than here in this adaptation of Balzac's revenge novel. This is one of those stories, like "I, Claudius", where everyone gets their just desserts in a very entertaining way. You get to watch from a god-like perch as Lange plots the destruction of everyone who ever abused her. Elizabeth Shue is delectable as a Parisian courtesan. And britcom fans will delight in Hugh Laurie's performance as the foolish, lecherous head of the family. This is one of those hidden treasures that you have to seek out, but you will be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Fury of a Woman Scorned...
Review: Jessica Lange plays a middle-aged woman (Cousin Bette) in period France who finally decides on revenge after years of being cruelly mistreated and betrayed by her rich relatives. The final straw comes when her young cousin-daughter successfully (through very sneaky means) "steals" away her young lover (a poor art sculpturer whom Bette cares for and nurses to health when he is ill and who's the only "light" and hope in poor Bette's life). To avenge, Bette seeks the help of a trusted friend who's a famous courtesan (played by Elizabeth Shue) but even she betrays Bette. However, the movie ends on a good note with all the "bad characters" getting their due in the end. The movie is well directed, but the characters are not particularly memorable or likeable (even Bette's). Still, it makes for an interesting watch, especially if you like unconventional period dramas. Jessica Lange is also brilliant in her role as the title character.
Rating:
Summary: interesting period drama
Review: Jessica Lange stars as Cousin Bette, the older spinster aunt recruited to help those relatives who have all the beauty and wealth --- and therefore all the love (it's a bit odd because Lange is really attractive even when they are playing her looks down. you just have to give in and believe it.) When Bette finds a boyfriend in a younger artist, her pretty niece Hortense goes after him because she does not see why Bette should have ANYTHING at all. Bette, meantime, is a costumer at a local Parisian theater, where she meets Jennie, a courtsean (played by Elizabeth Shue), who is also single but with quite a different take on life. Bette decides to put her spoiled selfish nasty relatives in their place once and for all. This is a great little movie and well worth watching!!!
Rating:
Summary: Confused point of view mars period drama
Review: Many reviewers of the theatrical release of Cousin Bette pointed out that the film was not faithful to the novel by Honere de Balzac. I will take their word, as I never read the book. It's just as well. Movies are not really comparable to print media, the novel is in the public domain, and Balzac is long gone. As a film, it is a visual extravaganza. I must admit that, for me, when a movie is impeccably and stylishly photographed, I can enjoy it for that reason alone. None of us know personally what France looked like 150 years ago, but Cousin Bette goes to great lengths to recreate it. The homes and the clothing of the upper class are sumptuous, while slums and their inhabitants are suitably grim and grimy. Jessica Lange remains one of our great actresses. Sadly, she hasn't had a hit picture in over ten years, so many people don't know who she is. As Bette Fisher, she brilliantly portrays a woman whose parents ignored her in favor of her older, more attractive sister. Now a forty year old spinster who is a costumer for a Paris theater, she quietly endures her insensitive, nearly bankrupt family. When her sister dies, her brother-in-law, Baron Hector [Hugh Laurie], presumes that she will move in and play nurse maid to her spoiled niece, Hortense [Kelly McDonald]. Bette refuses and returns to her small and lonely apartment. Soon she saves the life of a suicidal neighbor, a handsome young sculptor named Count Wenceslas [Aden Young]. While helping him to establish himself as an artist, she at last reveals that she is in love with him. What follows is a tale of ruthless, selfish people who take what they want in life. Wenceslas is using Bette. Hortense feels free to woe him away from Bette. Baron Hector feels his friends are meant to loan him money to support his silly and extravagant lifestyle. His best friend Cesar, delightfully play by Bob Hoskins, thinks money will buy him anything, including Hortense. Very prominent in the lives of all the characters is the actress and courtesan Jennie Cadice [Elisabeth Shue]. None of these people are prepared for Bette's fury, and it is her devilishly clever revenge that is the heart of the story. Taking her for granted proves to be their undoing. The flaw in Cousin Bette is that first time film director Des McAnuff could not decided whether to make the movie a drama or a dark comedy. It is more of the latter, but the actors play their parts too subtly for laughs. Often the main differences between comedy and drama are how the cast delivers their lines and how they use body language. The script begs to be interpreted either one way or the other. The movie is still enjoyable, but if you find yourself not knowing whether to laugh or cry in many scenes, the problem is not with you.
Rating:
Summary: good production values, disappointing film
Review: Of our two female leads, Lange does better than Shue with the period flavour. Shue, for my money, is a disaster in this flick. Can't act, can't sing, can't dance, and the part requires all three. Lange can act, at least. But neither of them seems quite comfortable in period, and at times either or both seem to be just reading the lines rather than getting any sense out of them. Though this is billed as a comedy I found it rather un-funny. The essence of the work is "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," a portrait of a old maid unsuccessfully in love with a younger man and determined to punish him and everyone else who has ever slighted her. Sounds like an old familiar (and despite the strong female lead, a very anti-feminist) theme. Production values (and budget!) are high throughout, and some of the supporting parts are much better cast and acted than the leads. As eye candy it rates well -- for those who like costume, glitter, and pageantry it will satisfy. Lange gets in some good sinister moments. Yet the matter of the plot is essentially both tragic and nasty, and I feel the film fails to make the difficult transmutation of pain into farce; it ends up with neither lightness nor dignity to recommend it, neither wit nor compassion. it could have been so much better...
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