Rosetta / La Promesse

Their film echoing Bresson's Mouchette in its depiction of the degradation of a female protagonist, the Dardenne Brothers won the 1999 Palme d'Or with this bleak slice... more >

Their film echoing Bresson's Mouchette in its depiction of the degradation of a female protagonist, the Dardenne Brothers won the 1999 Palme d'Or with this bleak slice of life depicting a young woman trying to cope with destitution. Emilie Dequenne, who won the Cannes Best Actress award, gives a startlingly ingenuous portrayal of the desperate heroine, whose sudden rages at her plight flare with heartbreaking pathos. Refusing to beg or steal to survive (though she is not, in the film's most shocking moment, averse to betrayal), Rosetta is a vivid emblem for the frequently impotent tenacity of the disenfranchised. < less

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"The heart that is low now will be at the full tomorrow" (R.S.Thomas)
The award of the 1999 Cannes Palme d'Or to Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's "Rosetta" met with ... more >

"The heart that is low now will be at the full tomorrow" (R.S.Thomas)
The award of the 1999 Cannes Palme d'Or to Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's "Rosetta" met with general surprise and confusion. Screened at the very end of competition, the film had slipped through a crowd of acclaimed rivals, unheralded and largely unnoticed.
Reminiscent of Bresson's "Mouchette", it concerns a teenage loner who lives in a run-down Belgian trailer park with an alcoholic mother, battles desperately to find work and is obliged to draw on her own resources to survive - emotionally and physically - a tough, bleak life.
In "Rosetta" the hand-held camera clings to the central character like an umbilical cord. Yet such is the film's rigorous authenticity and power that it breaks free of its constraints and soars.
This achievement owes much to the director's searching unsentimental honesty but more still to an outstanding, intensely concentrated performance from young Emilie Dequenne. Inhabiting her character in her breathing, her posture, in every minutest detail, Dequenne simply is Rosetta. Vulnerable, burdened and suspicious, but fiercely, at times ferociously, determined, she is a seemingly indomitable warrior with no trace of self-pity, charged with an extraordinary feral force.
From its dramatic expressive opening, in which Rosetta's walk conveys a world of meaning, the film is endowed with scenes of memorable impact, most notably the near-drownings and the tender, reassuring repetitions with which Rosetta sends herself to sleep.
"Rosetta" justifies Godard's famous statement that film is the truth twenty four times a second, and never more so than in its final moment. Mercilessly hounded by a young man whose friendship she had betrayed, Rosetta at last crumples in tearful, defeated exhaustion. By resolutely continuing to focus not on his reaction but on the girl herself, the Dardennes capture an expression which conveys a wonderful sense of compassion, acceptance and hope. < less

View all 51 of John Davies’s reviews

A worthy winner of the 1999 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A grim, realist tale of a young teenager living with her alcoholic mother in a trailer park who str... more >

A worthy winner of the 1999 Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. A grim, realist tale of a young teenager living with her alcoholic mother in a trailer park who struggles to survive a hard existence through hard work and sheer willpower in a series of mundane jobs, her uncertain progress blighted continually by bad luck and her own moody disposition. Sparse dialogue and a restless, hand held camera aptly reflect the inner turmoil of the eponymous heroine, and the directors admirably avoid sentimentality to create a powerful, heart-rending portrait of youthful hope and experience. < less

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DVD Extras

• 2 discs
• Interview with directors
• Cannes award footage
• Trailer
• Stills galleries
• Filmographies.

Film Details

Cast

Emilie Dequenne, Fabrizio Rongione

Technical Details