Rosetta

Director: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne

1999 / 95min / DCP

In their first Palme d’Or winner, Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne train their restlessly, anxiously roving camera on the stooped shoulders of the titular teenager (nonprofessional Émilie Dequenne, giving a performance of near-feral force and desperation) as she struggles to find work that will allow her to break out of the dead-end existence she leads at the “Grand Canyon” trailer park with her hopelessly alcoholic mother. “The most visceral filmgoing experience of the past year, including all of Hollywood’s explosions and special-effects extravaganzas… Ruthlessly unsentimental and physical… You feel it in your nervous system before you get a chance to reflect on its meaning.” —Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

“The Dardenne brothers have long been an influence on the films I’ve made with Derek Cianfrance. We believe in the authenticity of their filmmaking, and the profound humanistic values evident in their astute and compassionate observation of everyday people, places and situations. Rosetta, and other Dardenne films such as L’Enfant and Le fils, were a conceptual reference for Blue Valentine for the prosaic, often harsh environment that its marginalized protagonists inhabit. They showed us how visual significance can be found in every corner of our seemingly mundane universe.” —Inbal Weinberg

Introduction by Inbal Weinberg on Saturday, March 8th