# Betty Blue -- CENSORED! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124 "2002-10-20T19:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124/1 "2002-10-20T19:08:12Z")
_Betty Blue_ is one of my favourite films. There’s actually a funny story about seeing it the first time. I’d just met this girl and we decided to see a film on our first date. I’d heard good reviews of _Betty Blue_ so we went over to the Laemmle’s Royal to see it. Opening credits, and then graphic sex for about five minutes. A bit embarassing on the first date. But after the unexpected beginning, we enjoyed the film. It started out funny and ended as a tragedy, and the transition was done so smoothly we didn’t notice it. Quite a good bit of cinema! I tried to buy a copy on VHS a dozen-or-so years ago, but I didn’t have $100 for it. I never did see it sold for private viewing. (Video stores paid about five times what the public pays for the right to rent films to the public.) Eventually I had to bootleg a copy, since that’s the only way I could have it. It’s long been out of print. About a year ago I saw that it was on DVD. The “Director’s Cut”, no less! I contacted the seller in Australia only to find out that it was not available in NTSC format. _Bugger!_ Then, while browsing eBay, I found an NTSC copy. How? Where? But there it is! I bought it and finally received it from Hong Kong. I couldn’t read the South Korean text on the box, but what the hell? I had _Betty Blue_ on DVD in NTSC format. Yes! Today I got around to putting it in the player. Guess what? _It’s censored!_ The action is all there, and breasts are not censored; but the nether regions have spots over them. Sometimes the spots are flesh-tone, and other times they are black. _What the freak?_ Now, I have no desire to gaze on Jean-Hughes Anglade’s naughty bits. I’ll confess a slight desire to see Béatrice Dalle’s, but it’s not the reason I like the film. But those spots _draw attention_ to the groinage. They’re distracting. Aside from the fact that the director didn’t _want_ to hide the genetalia, it’s _silly_ to censor them! Who’s going to watch a film like _Betty Blue_? Buffy and Jody and Mrs. Beasly? I don’t think so. The film is intended for _adults_, and adults are the ones who will be watching it. Heck, I’ve heard some adults have seen penises and vaginas _in real life_. Some have even _touched them!_ Surely they shouldn’t be hidden on a work of art? And those spots are so distracting that they detract from the film. I guess I’ll just have to wait for a U.S. realease before I can see one of my favourite films uncensored on DVD. But when will that be? Maybe never. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Baraqiyal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@Baraqiyal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baraqiyal)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124/2 "2002-10-21T00:26:45Z")
I’ve also noticed this phenomenon in Mullholland Drive, Re-animator, and the 1993 version of Body Snatchers. In a Movie Answer Man column a few months ago, Roger Ebert said they blur out the naughty bits in DVDs to prevent high quality frames from being posted to the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124/3 "2002-10-21T12:13:33Z")
I can’t imagine that would be the case with _Betty Blue_. There are breasts galore, and the opening scene isn’t blurred at all. Besides, there are plenty of hard-core DVDs out there and blurring them would sort of defeat the purpose; so why blur a mainstream flick? ---
**Author:** ![Spurious\_George](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Spurious\_George](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spurious_George)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124/4 "2002-10-21T18:48:03Z")
Perhaps your DVD was produced in or imported through Japan, where depiction of lower naughty bits is illegal. Breasts are fine. [WAG] Or maybe similar obscenity laws exist in South Korea, or wherever the DVD actually came from. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/betty-blue-censored/133124/5 "2002-10-22T12:39:24Z")
That’s what I reckon. I’ve been told the Australian release is uncensored. Unfortunately, it’s only available in PAL.