Adapted from Honore de Balzac's novel of greed and revenge in 19th century Paris, Des McAnuff's "Cousin Bette" is a handsomely made movie which has all the trappings of a period costume drama combined with a very contemporary feel that moves the story along at breakneck pace.

The film opens with Baroness Adeline Hulot (Geraldine Chaplin in what amounts to nothing but a cameo appearance) lying in her deathbed. Her husband, Baron Hector (Hugh Laurie), admits to having squandered away the family's fortunes upon women, most recently, the famous showgirl Jenny Cadine (Elisabeth Shue). Worried that her young daughter, Hortense (Kelly MacDonald) will be unable to find a good match, Adeline charges her cousin Bette (Jessica Lange) - a plain-looking spinster who's future was sacrificed for the once-beautiful Adeline's happiness when they were children - to look after her family. At once bitter yet resigned to her lot in life, Bette agrees because she continues to hold a torch for Hector. As soon as Adeline is buried, Hector suggests that Bette move in with the family as its unpaid housekeeper, insisting that she maintain her job as a seamstress to the showgirls - including Jenny, his mistress - so as to supplement the dwindling fortunes. Spurned and insulted, Bette refuses his offer, and continues to live on her own. Her neighbour, Count Wenceslas (AdenYoung), is a starving aristocrat with aspirations of becoming an artist. Drawn to the younger man, Bette promises to help him if he would requite her affections. Overcome with gratitude, Wenceslas agrees, and begins to fashion gifts for Bette which catch the attention of Hortense. Upon finding out her maiden aunt's paramour, Hortense schemes to land him for herself. The fickle, and, it turns out, untalented Wenceslas, succumbs to her girlish charms, and the mortally insulted Bette swears bloody revenge. Using Jenny as her ax, and with the unwitting aid of Crevel (Bob Hoskins), the richest man in Paris, Bette connives a plan that eventually gets her everything she wants, and leaves all who stood in her way either dead, penniless or ruined.

The serpentine plot is the film's strongest selling point. As concocted by Balzac, the numerous double-crosses and the age old elements of greed, lust and revenge play out beautifully onscreen. Screenwriters Lynn Siefert and Susan Tarr give the characters a very modern style of speaking which often gives the film a somewhat odd tone and undermines it in several key scenes - it isn't often that people garbed in ancient attire start swearing in particularly up to date terms. What worked in reverse in "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", where ancient dialogue came out of the mouths of designer clad actors, just seems jarring and inept here. It is telling that both screenwriters were drawn to the mterial because they thought the novelist "was the Jackie Collins of the French Revolution" - is it any wonder then that they almost ruin a fine work of art? Nonetheless, Balzac's source material is wondrous and textured, and withstands the clumsy adaptation admirably well.

Director McAnuff approaches the material in a robust manner. His camera is restlessly moving to capture the labyrinthine confines of the characters' dwellings, intruding and peeling away all their superficial gentility to reveal their evil core in their private boudoirs. In the same way that Stephen Frear's "Dangerous Liaisons" managed to be both contemporary and classical at the same time, McAnuff's film works both as a torrid tale of times long past, and an allegory of modern day mores and manners. His pace and style are promising, although he could have handled the actors somewhat better.

Toby Stephens, so good as Orsino in "Twelfth Night", is reduced to playing the snivelling twit of a son to Hector with a combination of exaggerated mannerisms and reaction shots. Geraldine Chaplin's appearance here might have been substituted with any other actress. Kelly MacDonald simpers dutifully through her role - a pity, considering that Hortense, who could have been an interesting foil to Bette, simply comes across as one-dimensional. Elisabeth Shue very gamely bares her breasts and buttocks and tackles her role with an enthusiasm that seems out of place. Her character really doesn't warrant all that time devoted to it, and for the most part, she seems to have wandered in from a somewhat different movie. Worst of the lot is the casting of Aden Young as Wenceslas - in a charmless and boring performance, Young makes it very hard for the audience to believe that Bette, Jenny and Hortense would find the Count remotely attractive in any way.

The veterans in the cast, however, do their own thing marvellously. Hoskins, so in need of a good role, doesn't quite get one here, but at least both he and Hugh Laurie seem to understand the tongue-in-cheek tone of the film and give droll, amusing performances that match up to Jessica Lange's star turn. In the past year, Lange has turned up in a badly handled film ("A Thousand Acres"), and a plainly bad film ("Hush") - here, she redeems herself with a performance so rich and compelling that it is no wonder the film is titled after her character. Whether glowering with malice or genuinely pained by her lot in life, Lange makes Bette a fascinating wraith; although her actions are horrific and cold-hearted, the audience continues to root for her victory. Seeing the "villain" get away with it all hasn't been this satisfying since Linda Fiorentino did it in "The Last Seduction" a few years ago.

"Cousin Bette" suffers from a cheesy title, a supporting cast that leaves much to be desired, and a script that more often than not fails to hit its intended marks. On the other hand, the direction is boisterous, the tone is refreshing, and Lange makes it all worthwhile - if you're into this kind of thing, that is.

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