Betty Tells Her Story is a 1972 short film (19 minutes) directed by Liane Brandon.
It is a minimalist documentary short. The camera shows a woman named Betty, a schoolteacher, sitting in a chair. As the camera rolls Betty tells a story about how she got invited to the Governor's Ball in Connecticut. Lacking a dress for this fancy event, Betty goes to a fancy store and buys an absurdly expensive green dress, one that by her own account cost her a couple of weeks' salary. She visits some friends, and after they ask to see it, she puts on the dress. Everyone tells her how beautiful she is. She drives off, and, when she gets to her next destination, realizes that she left the box with the dress on the top of the car. A panicked search with her friends eventually leads to the box, in a snowdrift by the side of the road, but no dress.
Betty tells the story as a droll anecdote. Then, as a title card explains, Liane Brandon asked Betty to tell the story again. This time, the story is more emotional and introspective. Betty, a heavyset woman, talks about how the dress made her feel and how she felt when she lost it.
Tropes:
- Appearance Angst: A theme of the movie. Betty doesn't go into length about it, or discuss her weight, but she is obviously a heavyset woman. She does say that the Ball was the only time in her life that anyone ever said she looked beautiful. Losing the dress obviously upset her, and she doesn't know how to evaluate her feelings.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Shot in black-and-white for that 1972 low-budget indie documentary feel.
- Documentary: A documentary short in which a woman tells a story about buying an expensive dress, and losing it, and how that made her feel.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: A woman named Betty tells a story (about a lost dress).
- Leave the Camera Running: The entire film plays out in only two takes, as Betty tells her story, then tells it again, without any cuts other than the one in the middle.
- Minimalist Cast: Betty the schoolteacher is the only person who appears in the film.
- Two-Act Structure: Betty tells the story of the dress, then tells it again, the second time getting more emotional as she considers how the dress made her feel.
