There is only one brief moment of sentiment in Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s 1999 effort Rosetta. It’s not a long film – 95 minutes – but for being so committed to keeping their picture nearly free of ploys for sympathy the Dardennes deserve acknowledgement. Rosetta took home the Palme D’or at Cannes in 1999, but I don’t think it to be a masterpiece (as is often my feeling about Cannes winners). I think it is simply different enough from the contemporary conventions of the film industry that it could not be ignored. I haven’t seen much of the Dardenne’s catalogue, but I get the impression that all of their films defy these conventions. Less than a minute into Rosetta I recognized their handiwork.
Characters in Dardenne films always seem to be on the move. A handheld camera always follows them, sometimes curiously, and sometimes because their films create an impression of loneliness, that there is no one else to follow. Here it follows Rosetta, a teen whose just been fired from another job. She heads home to her trailer, traversing busy highways and muddy forests, only to find her mother drunk when she arrives. I doubt that a kind word is spoken between these two characters throughout the film, and a role reversal between them is obvious. It seems to take all of Rosetta’s energy to keep her mother from spending the money she gives her on booze, and choosing then to supplement the insufficient rent with sexual favors to the trailer park landlord. Rosetta is clever for a teen. (Why are teenagers in European films so smart when they are so dumb in American movies?) She is also proud, and refuses gifts from her mother’s suitors, opting instead to rely on her innovative fishing system to provide the occasional meal. Things would be better if she could keep a job. Or would they? The film is never certain. It’s too cautious, as if wounded deeply, to make any clear statement. I’m not sure if this is its strength or its weakness.
When Rosetta asks about work at a waffle stand she’s given a job as a batter mixer. She starts to talk with the boy, Riquet (Fabrizio Rongione), who sells the waffles. He’s smitten and invites her for dinner. At his apartment he makes her French toast and she listens to tapes of his garage band. Not wanting to go home, she sleeps there. The moment of sentiment comes, but not between the two characters. Alone on a spare bed, she holds a conversation with herself:
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.
It is the first time her name is spoken in the film.
Compare this scene to a later one in which she is forced to make a choice that would seem second nature to most. Riquet is drowning. He calls to Rosetta for help. She may have intentionally let him fall into the water, or she may have not, but for reasons that become clear to the audience at this moment she has a legitimate cause not to save him. I can recall few scenes in all of the films I’ve seen in which I was less certain of what a character would do. Both of these scenes suggest a loneliness that transcends the scope of typical human capacity. That she would let him drown is unthinkable, and yet at this moment wholly plausible.
Rosetta is a film without an ending. It isn’t supposed to have one. The audience decides for themselves what becomes of this girl. Externally, the film was effective in getting Belgian legislation passed to ensure fair employment for teens, but internally it’s missing something. Again, I think it’s supposed to be missing something, but in either case I didn’t find it as fulfilling as the Dardenne’s subsequent The Son (2002). That picture takes its time with its own moral questions, but I feel it engages its viewers before posing them. As I said, the directing brothers deserve acknowledgement for Rosetta, but I wasn’t quite sure until now that it was to their credit that they made such an emotionally distant film.
Language: French
Runtime: 95 Minutes
Available @Youtube.com
Grade: 3 Hats Off
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