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> Undertaking Betty Aka. Plots With A View (2002) <

Undertaking Betty (a.k.a. “Plots With A View) is set in a sweet welsh town of Rottin Powis, where everything seems to stay the same. Until the day that Boris and Betty hatch their plan…

Boris Plots (Alfred Molina), local funeral director, has been watching Betty Reece-Jones for thirty years. He was too shy to ask her to dance when they were children, and Betty’s current husband (town councilor Hugh) took the chance that Boris missed. Betty isn’t completely content with her current life, and when Hugh’s mother dies finds herself falling in love with Boris. She doesn’t want to hurt Hugh by running away with Boris, so they hatch a plot to fake her death so that Hugh won’t be shamed and can live on her life insurance.

The plan initially works – the town believes Betty is dead. But at the funeral, she learns that her husband was cheating on her, and Betty wants revenge. Still, they continue to carry out their plans (with a lot of mishaps along the way) and just when everything seems to be going swimmingly, a rival funeral business, Featherbeds, consisting of entrepreneurial American and bungling Welshman, poke their noses in and discover the plot. Boris makes a deal with them – he’ll sell his funeral business to them and never come back if they help Betty take revenge on her cheating husband. The agree, and Betty gleefully scares her husband and his girlfriend. The movie ends on a boat bound for Tahiti, with an ecstatic Boris and Betty swirling across the deck, dancing into the sunset.

This movie has the perfect balance of slapstick humor, gentle comedy and romance. The cast perform superbly, and there is not a moment where an accent slips. The camera work and lighting is innovative without being too confusing. Delightful little details pepper the very enjoyable, if slightly implausible plot, making the movie a pleasure to re-watch. There is enough contrast between characters to cause some very interesting scenarios, but they are not so different as to be unbelievable. The scenes of Boris and Betty dancing are simply gorgeous, and compliment this adorable movie’s gentle and amusing story line. I enjoyed it very much, and would have loved it even if Alfred Molina wasn’t in it…But he was in it, which was the icing on the cake making this one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.

For more information, please see the Internet Movie Database entry on Undertaking Betty.

> Fanart<
Undertaking Betty fanart by me. Submissions are welcome.