听 User Rating 
Director Claude Miller gives us parenting with a twist in a story of mad mothers and other people's children, based on a story by Ruth Rendell.
"Betty Fisher and Other Stories" opens with a jarring flashback, introducing the eponymous heroine as a child being attacked with a pair of scissors by her mentally unstable mother, Margot.
Jump to the present and when Betty's son accidentally dies, Margot (Garcia) comes up with the perfect solution: she simply steals a young boy called Jose (Alexis Chatrian) to replace him.
But Betty (Kiberlain) doesn't find it so easy emotionally to replace her son. Initially cold towards Jose, her attitude changes when she sees bruises on his body and decides to take care of him, despite the ethical implications.
Meanwhile, Jose's mother, Carole (Seigner), barely cares for the disappearance of her son, but takes part in a police hunt which draws towards a dramatic finale.
With "Betty Fisher", Miller has crafted an intriguing story of maternal instincts and misguided acts of affection, centred around a painful instance of the loss of a child.
Mixing tragedy with absurdity, it plays out with a skilful balance of emotion and black humour, along with powerful performances from the central duo of Sandrien Kiberlaine and Nicole Garcia.
The trouble is that the film suffers when it switches between strands of its multiple narrative. This introduces a questionable division of middle and working class values, figuring Carole as a bad mother, unable to provide for her son like the affluent Betty.
Weakening the main drama, the structure ends up relying too heavily on coincidence, especially by the somewhat incongruous finale. More Betty Fisher and less of the Other Stories please.
In French with English subtitles.
