Betty Blue (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

When the easygoing would-be novelist Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) meets the tempestuous Betty (Béatrice Dalle in a magnetic breakout performance) in a sunbaked French beach town, it’s the beginning of a whirlwind love affair that sees the pair turn their backs on conventional society in favor of the hedonistic pursuit of freedom, adventure, and carnal pleasure. But as the increasingly erratic Betty’s grip on reality begins to falter, Zorg finds himself willing to do things he never expected to protect both her fragile sanity and their tenuous existence. Adapted from the hit novel 37°2 le matin by Philippe Djian, Jean-Jacques Beineix’s art-house smash—presented here in its extended director’s cut—is a sexy, crazy, careening joyride of a romance that burns with the passion and beyond-all-reason fervor of all-consuming love. DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • High-definition digital restoration, approved by director Jean-Jacques Beineix, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • Blue Notes and Bungalows, a sixty-minute documentary from 2013 featuring Beineix, actors Jean-Hugues Anglade and Béatrice Dalle, associate producer Claudie Ossard, cinematographer Jean-François Robin, and composer Gabriel Yared • Making of “Betty Blue,” a short video featuring Beineix and author Philippe Djian • Le chien de Monsieur Michel, a short film by Beineix from 1977 • French television interview from 1986 with Beineix and Dalle • Dalle screen test • Trailers • New English subtitle translation • PLUS: An essay by critic Chelsea Phillips-Carr