Cousin Bette

Lisbet Fischer, known as Cousin Bette, has spent years dependent on the wealthier Hulot family and nursing resentment toward her beautiful cousin Adeline. After the young sculptor Wenceslas Steinbock, whom Bette has supported and hoped to possess, marries Adeline’s daughter Hortense, Bette joins forces with the calculating courtesan Valérie Marneffe. Together they exploit Baron Hulot’s appetite for women and his willingness to spend public and family money on his affairs.

Hulot’s debts and scandals spread through the family while Valérie manipulates several lovers and Bette conceals her role behind apparent loyalty. Adeline repeatedly sacrifices herself to save her husband, but the family’s property, marriages and reputation are progressively damaged. The revenge succeeds at a cost even Bette cannot fully control, leaving the surviving Hulots to rebuild after financial ruin, death and humiliation.