Review of A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story

This is the story of the real life Betty and her descent into madness, culminating in the murder of her ex-husband and his new, much younger wife. Betty Broderick, a loving mother and dutiful wife, is emotionally shattered when her workaholic husband Dan leaves her for his personal assistant, Linda. After viewing this movie, one is inevitably led to the actual story of the Broderick marriage. Taking both accounts into consideration, one finds that in an effort to attract viewers, the movie glosses over rather important information. The focus of the movie is not on the troubled marriage, but rather Betty Broderick's psychotic behavior. As a result, Betty is written in a rather unsympathetic light. Also, the audience never actually sees Dan physically cheat on Betty with Linda, although he is perhaps emotionally unfaithful. This makes Betty's confrontation seem almost uncalled for. Dan had actually been cheating on Betty on many occasions. As the movie goes on, Dan is more attentive with his children and new bride Linda while Betty's behavior becomes more and more irrational, turning Dan into an almost sympathetic character. In actuality, the Broderick marriage had been emotionally toxic with both partners feeding off of one another, something that is only hinted at in the movie. While movie is powerfully acted, with exceptional performances from Meredith Baxter and Stephen Collins, the audience doesn't quite get an accurate portrayal of the events.