Acclaimed theater director Des McAnuff made his feature-film directorial debut with this period comedy-drama adapted from Honore de Balzacs novel La Cousine Bette (1846) about a jealous and bitter spinster who attempts to destroy the romance between her niece and a Polish sculptor. In Paris of the 1840s, spinster Bette Fisher (Jessica Lange) steps in to take care of her relatives after a decline in the Hulot family fortunes, mainly due to wastrel Hector Hulot (Hugh Laurie). After penniless sculptor Wenceslas Steinbach (Aden Young) marries Hectors daughter, Hortense (Kelly Macdonald), Bette schemes and plots, drawing Hectors mistress, music-hall star Jenny Cadine (Elisabeth Shue), into her web by arranging for wealthy Cesar Crevel (Bob Hoskins) to become Jennys benefactor. Filmed at locations in and around Bordeaux. Shown at the 1998 Seattle Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide