Video Review: 'Betty'

Claude Chabrol’s study of two women — strangers when they meet — who share booze and misery is an intriguing portrait of survival of the fittest. The younger, Betty (Marie Trintignant, in a smashing performance), has been thrown out by her spouse and his family, while death has claimed the husband of the elder, Laure (Stephane Audran). Holed up in a luxe Versailles hotel, the two, both alcoholics, lean on each other until the weaker succumbs. Disturbing, compelling, and very smart stuff. B+