Film No. 95 ROSALIE (Perth Film Festival '23/'24) (2023). 12th Dec.

 

Film No. 95 (2023)  December 12th.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"Stay for me. Please stay another day. I beg you." (Rosalie pleads with her father not to leave her in this isolated village).

WINNER : Best Actress (Nadia Tereszkiewicz); Festival de Film Francophone 2023. Nominee: Best Film (Stephanie Di Giusto) Stockholm FF.

David Lynch's, THE ELEPHANT MAN asked questions about man's inhumanity to man based on what is perceived as normal. And while John Merrick (John Hurt) was ostracised and humiliated for his disfigurements, Rosalie (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) deals with similar prejudices and excruciating predicaments differently in this wonderful love story. Yes, a love story. Rosalie will steal your heart.  

Stephanie Di Giusto is back after directing her excellent THE DANCER (2016). What a fresh film maker she is. Here she creates a period piece, set in Brittany, France, based on the story of a beautiful maiden with an unfortunate physical disfunction. Rosalie has a hormone imbalance and she grows hair, even from an early age, as if she were a man. We meet her in an isolated community about to be wed. Her prospective husband has received money (much needed for a debt) to guarantee a lady's future. Husband, café owner, Abel (Benoit Magimel) knows nothing of Rosalie's  abnormality. Their wedding night does not go well!

1870 is brilliantly authenticated on screen, here. A gentle natured girl becoming ostracised by a husband and a community is difficult to watch, but as we become convinced that compassion will ultimately win out, through the entrepreneurial wisdom of Rosalie, there are emotional sweeteners. But can a happy ending be possible? When a community, riddled with prejudices and inhibitions, is faced with a bearded woman, there is bound to be collateral damage. 

Ultimately though, ROSALIE is a love story. The relationship that matters most is the one between husband and wife. So will that love become a true and legitimate love? We most definitely hope so!  10GUMS.