{"id":31743,"date":"2025-07-28T22:50:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=31743"},"modified":"2025-07-28T22:50:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:50:41","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-rosa-la-rose-fille-publique-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=31743","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: ROSA LA ROSE, FILLE PUBLIQUE (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This feature from Radiance Films is currently available\nas a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I\u2019ve written before on numerous occasions. Radiance Films is a wonderful new distributor specializing in underseen (in North America) but important international titles from Europe, Japan and around the world.
Once again, they\u2019ve gotten the rights to a well-regarded picture that was nominated for awards in its homeland, but didn\u2019t get a significant release in this part of the world. Now, everyone can catch up with it.
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Rosa la Rose, Fille Publique<\/em> is a French drama about\na young prostitute named Rosa (Marianne Basler) in the Les Halles area of\nParis, France. While today this region is known as a popular shopping district,\n40 years ago it was a red-light district. Rosa generally seems happy-go-lucky\nwith the attention of various men fighting over her, but complications arise\nfor the woman when she falls in love with painter\/client, Julien (Pierre\nCosso). Her older pimp Gilbert (Jean Sorel) with whom she has a relationship\nknows that she will ultimately leave at some point, but asks her to stay\nanother five years until he retires from the business. Alas, she is so head\nover heels in love that she wants to leave immediately. The young and impulsive\nprotagonist takes extreme action to change her life, resulting in tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie makes a distinct impression from other dramas of\nits ilk in several respects. It presents its main character, who has just\nturned 20, as a very genial, popular, and to some degree, naive. She appears to\nenjoy her work, and viewers see her deal with all kinds of clients, from the\nseemingly average or oddball, to potentially dangerous individuals over a few\ndays. The film also amusingly deals with the occasionally competitive\nrelationships between herself and other ladies in her field. Additionally,\nRosa\u2019s relationship with Gilbert is unusual for this type of movie. He\u2019s not a\nvicious figure and seems quite uncertain of what to do when the main conflict\narises. Rosa fears big reprisals, but her rash decisions actually seem to be\nthe result of taking passing comments a little too seriously (and gossip from\nothers around her).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In general, these characters aren’t painted broadly as\nsimple heroes and villains. In fact, most are actually well-intentioned. They\njust have some personal quirks. For first time viewers, this approach does make\nthe story unpredictable, unique and intriguing. Lead actress Basler is\nincredibly charismatic and it\u2019s clear to see why she was nominated for a Cesar\nAward in France for her starring role (in the Most Promising Newcomer\ncategory).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other big highlight of the picture is the way that it is\nshot and edited. The performers do their best to present a more authentic and\nlow-key approach in depicting sex workers and their daily concerns and moments\nof happiness. And while one might expect a gritty feel to display a more\nrealistic approach, the movie is instead shot in long takes with vibrant\ncolors. The photography is beautiful with phenomenal choreography. The camera\noften roams around the streets, catching several characters as they cross\npaths, converse and then move on to other business. I was quite struck by how\ngood the lighting and photography in this film was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can understand a couple of criticisms leveled at the picture. The film is relatively short and so there isn\u2019t a great deal of time to develop the relationship between Rosa and Julien. For some, it isn’t all that clear enough why the charming Rosa would become this enamored with Julien. But one could argue that the intensity on display isn’t unlike many passionate affairs between young persons. And in the end, it wasn\u2019t a major issue for this reviewer, even though I was admittedly more drawn in and fascinated by the interactions between Rosa, her coworkers, along with Gilbert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I found that I liked this feature quite a bit more than I\nexpected. The young lead is incredibly compelling and the supporting characters\nall stand out. Of course, the photography also wows with its elaborate set-ups\nand extended takes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For this Blu-ray, the film was restored in 2K and the image\nwas approved by director Paul Vecchiali. It\u2019s a great-looking image and the\nbright colors almost pop out of the screen. It looks so striking that it is\nhard to believe that the movie wasn\u2019t scanned in 4K. This is a clear, sharp,\nbright and brilliantly shot movie and the release perfectly displays the film’s\narresting  visuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bonus features also come highly recommended. There is an\nintroduction to the movie with critic David Jenkins, who gives an overview of\ndirector Paul Vecchiali and his career. It\u2019s very helpful in providing\nbackground to the movie and its history, which is largely unknown in this part\nof the world. He goes over the filmmaker and his work in the independent scene,\nnoting that he enjoyed making melodramas with modern story elements. The\nspeaker describes this film as a \u201cmusical without music\u201d  (even though\nthere actually is one sequence in the movie set to a song),and cites The\nUmbrella of Cherbourg<\/em> as title with a similar visual palette. Compliments\nare also directed towards the sharp and witty dialogue spoken by the various\ncharacters in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He notes that most of Vecchiali\u2019s titles never got released\nabroad, but that they deserve to be seen and appreciated more today. Many of\nhis pictures addressed themes and issues that were far ahead of their time. The\ncritic also mentions that Vecchiali did eventually get some recognition for his\nwork, as he was involved as a producer on J<\/em><\/strong>eanne Dielman, 23\nquai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles<\/em>, which is now considered by many critics\nto be one of the best films ever made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are also brief but enlightening archival interviews\nwith Vecchiali on French TV, as well as a conversation about the feature\ninvolving the filmmaker and star Basler. Vecchiali explains that while the\nmovie is fictional and has melodramatic elements, he wanted to tell an engaging\nstory while destigmatizing sex workers and show them as real and complex human\nbeings. The actress describes working on the movie and how she approached her\nrole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While its unique approach may have turned a few viewers away\nback in its day, this is a title that holds up remarkably well. The majority of\nindividuals in this story are both convincing and engaging. The remarkable\ncamerawork makes the time float right by and the pacing is extremely efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who enjoy French dramas will also be wowed by the\nimage quality on this disc, and enjoy the extras that help enlighten viewers on\nthe uniqueness of the storytelling. The Rosa la Rose, Fille Publique<\/em>\nBlu-ray is well worth checking out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from Radiance Films is currently available as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray. As I\u2019ve written before on numerous occasions. Radiance Films is a wonderful new distributor specializing in underseen (in North America) but important international titles from Europe, Japan and around the world. Once again, they\u2019ve gotten the rights to a well-regarded picture that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":31750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}