Title: Bad misfire
Product review: I've never read the Balzac novel this movie is based upon, but if Balzac wrote a coherent story, it didn't make it to the screen this time around. The settings and costumes are glorious, leading one to expect somewhat high-brow entertainment, perhaps on the order of Merchant/Ivory. Not to be. A sophomoric joke repeatedly cropping up in the film is Elizabeth Shue's naked backside. Huh? Wouldn't the Gendarmes come running, in 1846 Paris? Sacre Bleu!None of these people are very nice, but they don't deserve the mischief Cousin Bette inflicts upon them. And what is Jenny Cadine's motivation for letting herself be used in Bette's schemes. Nothing makes sense, and the whole movie was just bad misfire. Avoid if possible.
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