‘Rosa La Rose – Fille Publique’ is a 1996 French drama revolving around a young Parisian sex worker and the lives of those around her. She is beautiful, sexy, confident, and very popular with the clients. and seems to have no grudges about how she earns her money.
On her 20th birthday, her fellow ‘colleagues’ throw a birthday party for her, and she has a chance encounter with Julien, and instantly falls in love with him, and so begins her turmoil over whether she should follow her heart, or her pimp’s demand to keep her for longer.
This is a wonderful character study, and none of the other players are wasted. There are her other clients, one of whom just wants her to role-play his wife and eat a meal with him, with a bit of a kinky twist. There are two older sex workers, who share a touching scene about ageing, losing their looks and therefore the customers, and there’s Laurent, a diminutive youth who thinks he loves Rosa, and is desperate to save up the 500 francs to lose his virginity to her.
It’s not a feel-good film. Far from it, but what makes it so wonderful are the convincing performances, the beautiful, typically French score, and the cinematography, some of which would look stunning framed on a wall.
According to David Jenkins’ introduction to the film, this is the first film by director Paul Vecchiali to be released in the UK, and I’m keen to see more of his works, based on the strengths of this. The picture quality is superb, and the mono sound is crisp and clear.
Radiance has done a great job on this Blu-Ray, although it is lighter on extras than their usual releases. Along with the optional introduction, there are two TV interviews. The first is with cast members Marianne Basier (Rosa), and Jean Sorel, who plays her pimp, both talking about the film and how successful its limited cinema run was. The biggest surprise here is the trailer that was shown in this clip. It features a VERY large close-up of her nether regions! Also included is another short chat with director Vecchiali, who talks mostly about his career in general. The interviews, along with the film, are in French with English subtitles.
Summing up, this is a great piece of French cinema, beautifully shot, and the performances make you care for the characters, and in most cases, pity them. Let’s hope more films by Vecchiali are on the way.
FILM – 9 PICTURE – 10 AUDIO – 8 EXTRAS – 6
MANY THANKS TO STEVE WELLS FOR THE REVIEW
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