Rosetta (1999)

Sometimes you see a work of art and it knocks you out - it's all you can do for days and days to come to get it out of your mind. And you try to find a way in your mind to bring yourself closer to it, immerse yourself in it. You'll read everything about it that you can, try to find some more of the artist's work, find everything you can to do with it. All this to try and replicate the feeling that you experienced when you first encountered the piece. This is the effect that I've been trying to achieve since I saw Rosetta at 1999's London Film Festival.

Though some have attributed Rosetta's success at Cannes to the last-day syndrome; whereby the film that stays freshest in the panel's minds is the one that wins, it smacks of cavilling to suggest that this is the reason behind Rosetta's success - the simple fact is that it's a remarkable film which was only seriously rivalled this year by Almodovar's All About My Mother. Ignorance and snobbery have constantly been at work when Rosetta has been considered by critics, since it's a film which has divided the critics.

Top of the list of things-to-hate about Rosetta is the Dardennes' decision to shoot hand-held, an objection which I can understand but barely comprehend. Rosetta is a film which follows its heroine. Therefore, by mounting the camera almost on her shoulders, we see the world as she sees it, just as we see the world as she thinks it throughout the rest of the film. Most perfect is a scene when she is lying in bed at the house of Ricquet, her (only) friend, when she reassures herself that she's normal, she's found a friend, a *true* job and that she won't fall into the hole. Seldom is a more perfect and more touching marriage and explanation of the inner-self and its outer-conflicts achieved? - it's just magnificent cinema.

Rosetta is a fighter, but although her conflicts are with individuals, in a literal, physical sense, the metaphorical struggle is with the societal brick wall which she comes up against when trying to forge 'une vie normale' for herself. She's fighting against society for the right to live a life; she's fighting against society for a modicum of dignity. In this way, Rosetta is both existentialist and political, though never overtly, much to the credit of the Dardenne Brothers, since Rosetta is a 'universal' film.

The question which Rosetta poses is how we can release ourselves from the trouble we are in. Rosetta believes, and has been taught to believe (ironically, by society) that the way that she can achieve this dignity is by getting a 'true' job - so much so that she phones her boss to tell him that she won't be at work before her suicide attempt. She doesn't see that it's through Ricquet, not through having a job (his job) that she stands the best chance of forging a true identity, a true life and true dignity.

Rosetta is, in effect, just a proletarian hero, fighting society for the right to live and the right to work. However, to see the film in this way is reductionist in the extreme and is self-defeating. Rosetta is, above all, an individual. Her victory is to see that she has a friend who was there all along, and this gives us a remarkable ending that is full of drama; packs a considerable emotional punch and is unforgettable, thanks especially to a stunningly naturalistic performance by Emilie Dequenne, who won an award at Cannes for her portrayal of Rosetta. Her interpretation of the

Fmovies: i think, this movie is an intense experience in real life from the first to the last minute.maybe the camera is a little bit uncommen in the beginning; but very soon you forget about that and you get drawn into the plot. well there are not too many things happening, but what's happening is just like real life. in some way this movie ressembles the "dogma95"-films, but is much more authentic, as it takes place in some sort of sub-proletariat and not in

the middle class with its phoney-problems.

In my opinion, the best movie of 1999.

Definitively, underlining the existence of a master-piece called "Mouchette" is a must. Though Dardene brothers are not changing the cinematographic language as Bresson did, their movie almost attains in a few moments both the beauty and the intensity of Bresson's master-piece. Only a true artist can repeat the suicide of Mouchette succesfully (and, without any doubt, the moving final sequence belongs to the history of cinema with all merits). I'd like to point out also the magnificent use of music in this film (you could hardly find two movies a year in which the music is not a nuisance nowadays, some directors should limit themselves to the music that comes from the scene itself -a radio, a piano...- ): it appears only once, and is a messy, distortioned home recording of drums, which serves the co-starring as an excuse to dance with Rosetta. To those who are looking for a contrast in the movie, it's precisely this boy and specially this scene the ones that offer a way out.

Do the people that need to know why Rosetta is like that also want to know why the birds attack the humans in Hitchcocks classic?

Is it possible to construct such a character without showing, by repetition of sequences, the redundance of Rosettas' life? Is it possible such a beauty in the final sequence without the proper patient use of time?

Rosetta fmovies. An example of a true drama, as opposed to a melodrama (Saving Private Ryan is a popular example of a melodrama that passes itself off as a drama). It's been a few years since I've seen it, so I'm fuzzy on the names, but the finest scene in the movie occurs as Rosetta serves customers at a kind of snack food stand. She had just recently 'stole' the job from her only friend in the film. Customer after customer is served, as we wait in suspense for a certain person to arrive--the very man who's job she took. He arrives...off-screen (!), but we know exactly who it is. The camera painfully lingers on Rosetta as we beg for it to pan right, or (even better) to look away. Excellent.

Rosetta breaks all of the rules of film making and comes up with an amazing drama of almost epic proportions. This is a heartbreaking film, in line with the Dogme 95 manifesto. No artificial lights, no music, shot on location, and with non professional actors. The best of these is inevitable- Rosetta herself, played by Emile Dequenne. Both film and actress won major prizes in Cannes. Just rewards for an astonishing peice of work.

I found this film quite effecting without ever straying into crass sentimentality. Rosetta is a young girl who is full of anger and yearning. She lives with a dysfunctional alcoholic mother in a caravan park. Little is given about her past but we can understand that due to her upbringing she has limited options available to her. Her desire to be find a job (any job) is both desperate and touching. For Rosetta the prospect of a job, even a job that many in middle class society (indeed the average art house cinema goer!) might regard as mundane and without prospects, represents to her a chance to escape the existence on the outskirts of society. Her drive however raises her above the mere status of victim, and it is a credit to the lead that she conveys so much of this, without it having to be spelt out.

One thing I did find a little disconcerting was the wobbly camera technique, don't see if you are feeling a little nauseous as I was however this is only a minor criticism. Its around 90 minutes and I think well worth the investment if you like a good character based movie.