Rosetta (1999)

Directors:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne

Writers:

Jean-Pierre Dardenne (writer)
Luc Dardenne (writer)

Release Date:

22 September 1999 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Young and impulsive Rosetta lives with her alcoholic mother and, moved by despair, she will do anything to maintain a job.

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholic Mother | Job | Fired | Friendship | Betrayal

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Émilie Dequenne	...	Rosetta
Fabrizio Rongione	...	Riquet
Anne Yernaux	...	The Mother
Olivier Gourmet	...	The Boss
Bernard Marbaix	...	The Campgrounds Manager
Frédéric Bodson	...	The Head of Personnel
Florian Delain	...	The Boss's Son
Christiane Dorval	...	First Saleswoman
Mireille Bailly	...	Second Saleswoman
Thomas Gollas	...	The Mother's Boyfriend
Leon Michaux	...	First Policeman (as Léon Michaux)
Victor Marit	...	Second Policeman
Colette Regibeau	...	Madame Riga
Claire Tefnin	...	Girl in Locker Room
Sophie Leboutte	...	Fired Woman

Also Known As:

Rosetta (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Розетта (Russia) [ru]
Rosetta (Sweden) [sv]
Rosetta (Greece) [el]
Rosetta (Portugal) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

95 min | Colombia:92 min

Country:

France | Belgium

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Singapore:PG | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Belgium

Company:

ARP Sélection

Quotes:

Rosetta: Your name is Rosetta. My name is Rosetta. You found a job. I found a job. You've got a friend. I've got a friend. You have a normal life. I have a normal life. You won't fall in a rut. I won't fall in a rut. Good night. Good night.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#20.3)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Something New

Dispassionate fury

I saw Rosetta 3 or 4 months ago and it has stayed vividly in my mind. I would like to respond to two other commentaries here which compare Rosetta to earlier films.

One commentary compares it to Nights of Cabiria. But this is no pastoral fantasy like the Fellini. Another contributor calls Rosetta a fake Bresson. Presumably the point of comparison is with Bresson's Mouchette, and it's a good comparison to make, but I don't think it is one that diminishes Rosetta. Both Mouchette and Rosetta capture the flow of time and the characters' interior worlds realistically, but with realisms which are quite different. Mouchette's struggle is a spiritual one; Rosetta's struggle is with her physical conditions.

To make a comparison of my own, albeit an off-the-wall one, Rosetta's determination is strangely like the pure will-power that Lee Marvin demonstrates, barging into the Organisation's HQ in Point Blank. Maybe this forceful quality is what makes it a "war film".

The film-makers do the opposite of sentimentalising Rosetta's conditions as Fellini would have done. Arguably, they even go past Bresson, if you tend to a materialist rather than a religious point of view. They argue how poverty operates, how surviving it involves anger.

There is one moment when Rosetta slips in a lake and we understand exactly at the moment she does, that she may in fact drown. Not a moment that's easy to forget.