Jealousy ages like wine, but Bette's been fermenting since childhood—and she's ready to pop.
Élisabeth Fischer, a farmer's daughter and cousin of Adeline Fischer, now Baroness Hulot d'Ervy, has been furiously jealous of the latter since their early childhood. After arriving in Paris as a passementerie worker, she set out to harm the Hulot d'Ervy family by any means necessary. She pushed the Baron into debauchery and tried to destroy the relationship between his niece Hortense Hulot and Wenceslas Steinbock. But her schemes bring her no satisfaction, and she dies of rage.
Acting
Alice Sapritch simmers with decades of unspoken rage in every glance.
Costume
Passementerie worker to Parisian schemer—wardrobe tells her whole climb.
Writing
Balzac's dialogue adapted with delicious spite and zero mercy.
Director
Yves-André Hubert
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This TV film adaptation was shot in 16mm for ORTF, France's state broadcaster, making it a rare small-screen Balzac.
Bette's passementerie trade—fancy trimmings and lace—symbolizes her decorative invisibility in a family that values surface splendor over her labor.
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