[6]

Jessica Lange and Elisabeth Shue star in this darkly comedic period piece about a bitter seamstress (Lange) who plots to ruin the lives of her late sister’s husband and daughter after they refuse to accept her into their wealthy family. Things get escalated when Lange’s character finds love in a young artist who eventually falls for her daughter-in-law. Shue plays a bawdy stage performer who agrees to help Lange exact her revenge. Hugh Laurie and Bob Hoskins are memorable in supporting roles.

I would like Cousin Bette to have embraced the dark side a little more tightly. Lange is deadly serious as the title character and never gets the opportunity to soar in the role, which is sort of a precursor to her performance as Tamora one year later in Julie Taymor’s brilliant Titus. Shue feels out of place most of the time, but it’s wonderful that her bare-naked ass is a running gag throughout the movie. I feel as though Laurie and Hoskins find the perfect tone for the film — one I wish were shared by the rest of the cast and the director.

With Geraldine Chaplin.