It really is a shame there is no decent distribution for this film in the US. Rosetta is a film that deserves one. Rosetta is a poor girl fighting against the circumstances of her life. She fights a futile effort to keep a job to make a steady wage to be able to move out of the trailer park where she is stuck with her alcoholic mother. Being a teenager she gets a lower wage and does not get to work a job long enough to get unemployment or has not been unemployed long enough to get hired long term. She wants a normal life so badly but something seems to happen to get in the way. I could not help but draw many parallels to Robert Bresson's film Mouchette which is also about a girl living a tragic life. Unlike Mouchette though Rosetta is trying to do something about it and will fight the world if needed. There is a very touching scene where Rosetta gives herself a pep talk before going to sleep. She has a normal job, a friend and a normal life and she will not falter. Like always though circumstances are working against her.
The Dardenne brothers shot this film with hand held cameras and you can tell with the way it moves and sways as it tries to keep up with Rosetta who is constantly moving. It almost seems if she stands still for too long she will be stuck in her impossible situation forever. The Dardenne brothers as always do a great job of shooting the film with natural lighting in long takes often following the character almost if she is an animal in the wild and if they get too close she will run away. All throughout the film Rosetta suffers from sudden and extreme cases of stomach pain. This pain is never given a cause but the amount of different probable reasons that she might have this pain shows just further displays the challenges Rosetta must face. She uses a hair dryer on her stomach to ease the pain and the viewer cannot help but feel that this might just be a replacement for the human warmth Rosetta does not have in her life. Emilie Dequenne gives a subtle yet powerful performance of this woman who is in a desperate struggle against the hand she was dealt in this life.
The Dardenne brothers shot this film with hand held cameras and you can tell with the way it moves and sways as it tries to keep up with Rosetta who is constantly moving. It almost seems if she stands still for too long she will be stuck in her impossible situation forever. The Dardenne brothers as always do a great job of shooting the film with natural lighting in long takes often following the character almost if she is an animal in the wild and if they get too close she will run away. All throughout the film Rosetta suffers from sudden and extreme cases of stomach pain. This pain is never given a cause but the amount of different probable reasons that she might have this pain shows just further displays the challenges Rosetta must face. She uses a hair dryer on her stomach to ease the pain and the viewer cannot help but feel that this might just be a replacement for the human warmth Rosetta does not have in her life. Emilie Dequenne gives a subtle yet powerful performance of this woman who is in a desperate struggle against the hand she was dealt in this life.