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Rosetta

1999 [FRENCH]

Action / Drama

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 90% · 30 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 83% · 2.5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.4/10 10 16429 16.4K

Plot summary

Young, impulsive Rosetta lives a hard and stressful life as she struggles to support herself and her alcoholic mother. Refusing all charity, she is desperate to maintain a dignified job.

Top cast

Émilie Dequenne as Rosetta
Victor Marit as Second Policeman
Colette Regibeau as Madame Riga
Christiane Dorval as First Saleswoman
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
865.98 MB
1204*720
French 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 7
1.57 GB
1792*1072
French 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 34 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by dromasca 6 / 10

superb acting is not enough for a great film

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, one of the two brothers who authored 'Rosetta' was co-director a couple of years before this film of a strong documentary describing the life of the homeless orphan children in post-Communist Romania. That film which became a repeated item on some European TV channels like Arte-TV when they need to say something about Romania seems to have inspired the Dardenne brothers in making 'Rosetta'. The difference is that Rosetta is not a documentary, but a low-budget art film. The focus however is the same - the desperate life of a teenager who is forced to fight for her basic survival in a world and within a system which does not seem to offer her any help. She fights not only to survive but also to keep some dignity, although the lack of a proper childhood left her without tools to manage basic human relations, to understand and receive friendship.There is a strong moral and social message in this film. Most of the time the camera focuses on the actress Emilie Dequenne who won a Cannes prize for her performance. The problem is that the lack of action and events in the film, although keeping it simple and direct, cannot sustain the movie as a piece of art. It takes more than a strong message and good acting for a great film . What works well in a documentary is not good enough for a full length feature film. 'Rosetta' lacks complexity and the direct approach eventually gives the perception of simplicity, decreasing the overall impact. 6 out of 10 on my personal scale.
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Reviewed by PCC0921 6 / 10

Walking, running and changing shoes?

A strange character, who is about 19 years old, but looks about 14. She also has a drunk of a mother. Rosetta winds up being the sole provider of the household. The film-makers do show us throughout the film that she is the more mature of the two and that there is desperation to find work. This tediousness shapes a very basic film, with a slow pace and don't even get me started about the bottle she keeps throwing into the pond. I tried to enjoy the interesting hand-held camera work, which gave it a voyeur feeling. The film looked like it was much older than 1999, which gave it a docu-drama feel, that I liked. There were some unique close-ups, which I found compelling, but these positive aspects couldn't save this pointless wreck. I felt exhausted after watching this.

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