Jean-Jacques Beineix didn't just make a movie when he released 37°2 le matin. He basically captured lightning in a bottle. You might know it as Betty Blue. It’s that film with the iconic poster—the one hanging in every university dorm room throughout the nineties. But beyond the aesthetic and the intense, sun-drenched visuals of the French seaside, it’s the cast of Betty Blue that actually carries the weight of this tragic, messy, beautiful story. Honestly, without the specific chemistry between Béatrice Dalle and Jean-Hugues Anglade, this movie would have just been another forgotten piece of "Cinema du Look" fluff. Instead, it became a generational touchstone.
It’s raw.
When people search for the actors behind these characters, they’re usually looking for that specific magic. How did a first-time actress like Dalle manage to upstage everyone? Whatever happened to Anglade? It’s a film about madness, yes, but it’s also about the absolute, crushing exhaustion of loving someone who is unraveling right in front of you.
The Electric Arrival of Béatrice Dalle
Let's talk about Béatrice Dalle. Before the cast of Betty Blue was finalized, she was essentially a complete unknown. She was a model, sure, but she wasn't an "actor" in the traditional, conservatory-trained sense. Beineix saw her on the cover of a magazine and just knew. That’s the kind of legendary casting story that usually feels like PR nonsense, but here, it’s actually true.
Dalle plays Betty. She’s a force of nature. One minute she’s tossing a man’s belongings out of a window because he doesn't appreciate her boyfriend's writing, and the next, she’s slipping into a terrifying, catatonic darkness. It’s a performance that doesn’t feel like "performance." She’s jagged. She’s unpredictable.
Interestingly, Dalle’s real life often mirrored the rebellion seen on screen. She famously didn't care for the trappings of stardom. While other starlets were playing the game, Dalle was being herself—often to the chagrin of the French press. In the film, her physicality is everything. Whether she’s painted in house-paint or wearing that simple yellow dress, she owns the frame. It’s impossible to look at anyone else when she’s there. You can see why Zorg (Anglade) is willing to burn his whole life down just to keep her happy for five minutes.
Jean-Hugues Anglade: The Anchor of the Storm
If Dalle is the lightning, Jean-Hugues Anglade is the conductor. He plays Zorg. He’s a handyman. A writer. A guy who just wants a quiet life painting beach huts and drinking chili beer.
Anglade had a bit more experience than Dalle at the time—you might recognize him from Luc Besson's Subway—but Betty Blue made him an international face. His performance is often overlooked because Dalle is so loud and vibrant, but Anglade does the heavy lifting. He has to portray a man who is slowly losing his own identity as he tries to save someone who doesn't want to be saved.
It’s a quiet, devastating descent.
By the time we get to the third act—the part in the toy store where everything starts to get really weird and dark—Anglade’s face says it all. He looks aged. He looks hollowed out. It’s a masterclass in reactive acting. He’s not just "the boyfriend." He is the audience’s surrogate, the person trying to make sense of the chaos.
The Supporting Players You Forgot Were There
While the central duo dominates the discussion, the broader cast of Betty Blue adds these weird, surreal layers to the film that keep it from being just a standard melodrama.
Gerard Darmon plays Eddy. You’ve seen him in a million things if you watch French cinema. He brings this earthy, grounded energy to the middle section of the film. When Betty and Zorg move to help run the pizza shop/pension, Eddy provides the only sense of "normalcy" they ever really experience. But even that normalcy is tinted with the film’s signature eccentricity.
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- Consuelo de Haviland plays Lisa, Eddy’s girlfriend. She’s the perfect foil to Betty. Where Betty is explosive and destructive, Lisa is stable and somewhat weary.
- Clémentine Célarié shows up as Annie. It’s a small role, but she makes an impression. The film is populated with these characters who seem like they have entire lives happening just off-camera.
- Dominique Pinon makes a brief appearance too. If you like Jean-Pierre Jeunet movies (Amélie, Delicatessen), you know Pinon. He has one of the most recognizable faces in world cinema.
These actors flesh out the world. They make the beach at Gruissan and the streets of Paris feel like real places where people actually live, which makes Betty’s eventual disconnection from reality feel even more tragic.
Why the Director’s Cut Changes Everything
You haven't really seen the cast of Betty Blue perform until you’ve sat through the three-hour "Integral" version. The theatrical cut is about two hours. It moves faster. It feels more like a fever dream.
But the long version? That’s where the actors really get to breathe.
There are entire subplots restored that change the tone. You see more of Zorg’s internal life. You see more of the mundane moments that make the high-intensity scenes feel earned. Some people find it too long. Honestly, it kind of is. But for fans of the craft, seeing Anglade and Dalle navigate those extra sixty minutes of footage is like watching a long-form improvisation. It’s exhausting in the best way possible.
The Legacy of the Performers
What happened after the credits rolled?
Béatrice Dalle became a cult icon. She went on to work with legends like Claire Denis (check out Trouble Every Day if you want to see her at her most terrifying). She never became a "Hollywood" actress, and that’s exactly why people love her. She stayed raw. She stayed French.
Jean-Hugues Anglade had a very solid career, appearing in Killing Zoe and the historical epic La Reine Margot. He even had a brush with real-life heroism in 2015 when he was on the Thalys train during an attempted terrorist attack. He’s a veteran of the industry now, a far cry from the scruffy handyman in the seaside shack.
The "Cinema du Look" Controversy
We have to talk about the style. In the mid-80s, French critics were obsessed with the "Cinema du Look." They thought directors like Beineix and Besson were prioritizing style over substance. They hated the bright colors. They hated the "music video" aesthetic.
But looking back, the cast of Betty Blue proved them wrong. You can’t get these kinds of performances out of a movie that’s just "empty style." There is a deep, psychological truth in the way Dalle portrays mental illness. It’s not "pretty" madness. It’s ugly. It involves self-mutilation and screaming and the total breakdown of the domestic space. The style isn't a distraction; it’s a contrast. The brighter the sun shines on the beach, the darker Betty’s internal world becomes.
Essential Viewing Details for the Curious
If you’re looking to revisit the film or watch it for the first time because you’re interested in the cast, here is the breakdown of what you need to know.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It lost, but the impact was made. It’s based on the novel by Philippe Djian. If you read the book, you’ll realize just how much of the "character" was brought to life by the actors themselves. The book is sparser. The movie is lush.
How to approach the movie today:
- Skip the dub. Seriously. You need to hear the original French voices. Dalle’s voice is half of her performance—it’s husky, low, and full of smoke.
- Watch the theatrical cut first. If you start with the three-hour version, you might get bogged down. The shorter version captures the "vibe" more effectively for a first-timer.
- Look at the background. Beineix was obsessed with set design. Notice how the colors of the rooms change as Betty’s mental state shifts.
Real-World Impact and Misconceptions
One of the biggest misconceptions about the cast of Betty Blue is that they were just "sexy Europeans" in a "sexy movie." While the film is famous (or infamous) for its nudity and eroticism, that’s the least interesting thing about it.
The film is actually a pretty brutal look at the limitations of love. Zorg thinks he can fix her. He thinks if he just loves her enough, or finds her a house, or gets his book published, she’ll be okay. He’s wrong. The actors convey this beautifully. There’s a scene late in the film where they’re in a grocery store, and you can see the moment Zorg realizes he’s lost her. It’s not a big blow-up. It’s just a look in his eyes.
Moving Beyond the Poster
Most people know the poster. They know the music—that haunting saxophone score by Gabriel Yared. But the cast of Betty Blue deserves more credit for the film's longevity.
Dalle and Anglade created a blueprint for the "doomed lovers" trope that dozens of indie films have tried to copy since. Most fail because they don’t have actors willing to be this vulnerable. They try to make the madness look "cool." In Betty Blue, it’s never cool. It’s just inevitable.
Actionable Next Steps
To truly appreciate the work of this cast, your next move should be a focused "Beineix/Dalle" deep dive.
- Watch 'La Lune dans le caniveau' (The Moon in the Gutter): This was Beineix’s film before Betty Blue. It stars Gérard Depardieu and Nastassja Kinski. It’ll give you context for his visual style and show you how he transitioned into the more character-focused work of Betty Blue.
- Track down 'Trouble Every Day': Watch this to see Béatrice Dalle nearly 15 years later. It’s a horror film, but it shows the same feral intensity she brought to the role of Betty.
- Compare the Cuts: If you’ve only seen the short version, find the Criterion Collection or the Second Sight 4K release. Watch the "Integral" version with the commentary tracks. Hearing the stories about the production—how they actually burnt down that beach house for real—adds a whole new layer of respect for what the actors went through.
- Explore the Gabriel Yared Score: Listen to the soundtrack independently. It’s one of the few film scores that perfectly encapsulates the specific melancholy of the actors' performances without needing the visuals to back it up.