620-621 La promesse and Rosetta

[Jeff]

La promesse



This is the breakthrough feature from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who would go on to become a force in world filmmaking. The brothers brought the unerring eye for detail and the compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs developed in their earlier documentary work to this absorbing drama about a teenager (Jérémie Renier) gradually coming to understand the implications of his father’s making a living off of illegal alien workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, La promesse is a brilliantly economical and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Alain Marcoen, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Conversation between film critic Scott Foundas and filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- New interviews with actors Jérémie Renier and Olivier Gourmet
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kent Jones


Rosetta



The Belgian filmmaking team of brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne turned heads with Rosetta, an intense vérité drama that closely follows a poor young woman struggling to hold on to a job to support herself and her alcoholic mother. It’s a swift and simple tale made revelatory by the raw, empathetic way in which the directors render Rosetta’s desperation, keeping the camera nearly perched on her shoulder throughout. Many have copied the Dardennes’ style; few have equaled it. This ferocious film won big at Cannes, earning the Palme d’Or for the filmmakers and the best actress prize for the indomitable Émilie Dequenne.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:
- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Alain Marcoen, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Conversation between film critic Scott Foundas and filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- New interview with actors Émilie Dequenne and Olivier Gourmet
- Trailer
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Kent Jones

[denti alligator]

Why they didn't get Joseph Mai, who's written a great book on the Dardennes (the first, in fact), to do a video essay or commentary is beyond me.

[domino harvey]

I'll stick with my Artificial Eye set that cost like seven dollars

[swo17]

Fortunately CC's 2-week warning gave me time to unload the AE for about as much as it will cost to upgrade.

[jbeall]

I'll stick with my Artificial Eye set that cost like seven dollars

Indeed. But it's nice that they're getting a decent R1 release.

[Paul Moran]

I'll stick with my Artificial Eye set that cost like seven dollars

I'll probably stick with mine, too. It was a gift (October 2005), but probably cost the donor about $25.

[Oedipax]

You guys realize these are bluray right

I've owned and cherished the AE set for many years but there's no way I'm not buying both of these

[FilmFanSea]

You guys realize these are bluray right

I've owned and cherished the AE set for many years but there's no way I'm not buying both of these

Precisely. Personally, I wanna reward Criterion with strong sales for these titles, even if it dings my wallet a bit.
Even on rewatching the Dardennes' films, I still get a visceral, edge-of-my-seat feeling. Their films draw me in (in the same way that sex, lies, and videotape did back in its day, or Mike Leigh's films). But yet I don't feel manipulated by their technique, because it's so bloody naked and guileless. Their gift is to humanize unlovable/unlikable people who are making unthinkable decisions, and create empathy for them in the viewer. And they make it look so easy, when it's clearly not.

[stroszeck]

I'm surprised there isn't a more enthusiastic response about these releases. Both transcendent movie-going experiences for me. Hopefully they can get The Son next.

[Zot!]

I'm very excited if that makes you feel better. I would imagine the upgrade from the old PAL dvds is going to be significant. I wish Criterion would release more of these "lost classics of the 90s" kind of things. I imagine it's just not a trendy era, but off the top of my head Carax, a Dogma 95 box, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and Dumont's first couple could all use proper R1 releases.

[swo17]

I'm excited, though it's an excitement that is somewhat tempered by the lack of much in the way of extras on these releases, such as a sampling of the Dardennes' earlier films (which for all I know were never even on the table). Also, my feelings for these films are of the sort that generally don't translate well into coherent words (though Jeff came close here). This was the best I was able to come up with for La promesse in the '90s list thread:

Yes, the Dardennes film. No superlatives could describe it.

I've actually tried to write something about La promesse a couple of times and ended up scrapping it, as I didn't feel I could come up with the right words. I guess now is as good a time as any to have another go at it. This film gutted me in a part of my gut I didn't even know I had before. To me, it's one of those films like Bicycle Thieves or Where Is the Friend's Home? that have such a simple conceit on the surface but delve so far into the soul of the protagonist, you can't help but come out wearing a part of them on your own afterward. While watching it, it feels like one of the most important stories ever told, like the epic battle between good and evil, raging in the heart of the boy at the center of the story. And yet, of course, it's told without a hint of such pretension, which just makes it all the more endearing.

But look at me, there I've gone and done the film the great disservice of just throwing a bunch of superlatives at it. It can't possibly live up to all that, can it? Ah well, at least maybe one more person will watch it now.

[Gregory]

I still feel pretty much the same about La Promesse as when I put it at the top of my '90s list without really feeling like I could describe what makes it powerful for me, or the other four features of theirs I've seen. If I were to try, I think I'd have to say something about the directness of their work. I first saw an excerpt of the film on VHS and it didn't stand out to me all that much, but seeing the film in its entirety on the AE DVD, I got completely absorbed in it, allowing its bluntness and directness to hit hard. It feels real and significant to me. I lead a privileged and sheltered life by any global standard, and some of the best fictional work in a realist style like La Promesse will "capture" what is real to me in a way that little that I directly experience can, paradoxically, as it's obviously not real and is calculated to hit a nerve -- but for a greater purpose than hitting a nerve just for the sake of doing so (and I strongly feel the same way about Haneke, who I think has been unfairly accused of making challenging work just for sheer notoriety, or to torment viewers or something, whereas I think he has far more than that to show us, more difficult questions to raise).
It's "a small story," (the phrase De Sica once used to describe Shoeshine) but true. The force of the events the Dardennes show us makes me think of a scene from The Wire in which Herc is talking to Carver and says, "Yeah, I fucked up. So what?" and Carver has to try and explain that "it mattered . . . It all matters."

[hearthesilence]

Hell, I've been hoping for this for a long time - it still amazes me that it took this long. Rosetta is still my favorite, but I've only seen it twice, once on a VHS copy that was lying around my school's multimedia center (the only place I could watch anything on VHS) and again at the Dardennes retrospective at Lincoln Center, back in 2009 and projected in 35mm. Such a great film, I never understood why it didn't get a DVD release - a rights issue?

It was shot in 16mm too, so I'm hoping Criterion went back to the original 16mm camera negative (even though some of the lens distortion is supposedly exaggerated in the blow-up - I'm not sure if that's actually the case) - they've done that for other reissues, and I think it makes a big difference. Most companies don't do that, they transfer from a 35mm blow-up, so I'm glad when people like Criterion make the effort.

Anyway, just glad both are available again, I love them both. I still remember the first time I took a friend to see La promesse - I had already seen it, but she hadn't, and when the lights went up, I turned to her and said, "wasn't that great?" She just sat there, shell-shocked like she had been horribly traumatized, and said, "Yeah, I'm just...trying to process that now...." In other words, great cinema, but not something to watch on a first date.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I am beyond thrilled. Rosetta has been on my CC wishlist for a good long time.

[Alan Smithee]

Rosetta is my favorite of the Dardennes work. It's so simple in it's representation of struggle and so specific in its signifiers. It doesn't waste a gesture. They manage something that seems to be realism in the way it stalks the character and emphasizes routine that you miss the aesthetic and specificity of objects and so on. It all moves toward something so simple. It's a very beautiful film and you can bet this release will raise their profile a hundred times.

[ryannichols7]

Beaver on Rosetta.

they seriously did a pretty damn good job with this discs, by the looks of it. the interview really did come out to be an hour long!

[swo17]

Beaver on Rosetta.

Are we sure that shot of the lady pouring milk isn't out of a Tashlin film?

[ryannichols7]

annnnnd La Promesse

they seriously went the extra mile here. definitely among the releases of the year.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Hi there,

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne - in this long and very informative video interview, the Dardenne brothers explain how Rosetta came to exist. The directors also discuss the main themes in the film, its message, and technical construction, as well as the casting process.

I would like to know if the bonus (perhaps during the interview of Émilie Dequenne or the Dardenne brothers) there are some snippets of the original video/ DV casting of Emilie Dequennes for the movie Rosetta... Thanks.

[manicsounds]

La Promesse and Rosetta reviews at BlurayDef

[Black Hat]

Rosetta to me is F U filmmaking at its finest.

What I found remarkable about Rosetta is also what's most irritating, to the point of almost making you want to take a break, if not walk away altogether which is precisely what makes the film powerful; the constant unrelenting view of the camera. Almost saying to you, ok you want to watch this but, there will be no cinematic escape available here for you. This here is real life, this is how it is and it's a god damn prison. A frenetic, mish mosh of intensity prison cell that reeks of desperation. You may not like it, you may detest it, shit you might even be in denial about it but, god damn it we are going to force you to acknowledge it, if not try to get you to understand it and from here on out think twice about how you judge other people's choices. And if you fail to do so or don't make it to the end of the film it is out of your own fear as an audience, than any of our shortcomings as a Driector/storytelling

[Zot!]

Rosetta to me is F U filmmaking at its finest.

What I found remarkable about Rosetta is also what's most irritating, to the point of almost making you want to take a break, if not walk away altogether which is precisely what makes the film powerful; the constant unrelenting view of the camera. Almost saying to you, ok you want to watch this but, there will be no cinematic escape available here for you. This here is real life, this is how it is and it's a god damn prison. A frenetic, mish mosh of intensity prison cell that reeks of desperation. You may not like it, you may detest it, shit you might even be in denial about it but, god damn it we are going to force you to acknowledge it, if not try to get you to understand it and from here on out think twice about how you judge other people's choices. And if you fail to do so or don't make it to the end of the film it is out of your own fear as an audience, than any of our shortcomings as a Driector/storytelling

The camera is certainly unrelenting at times, but I disagree regarding it punishing the audience. In general I found the film to be ulimately uplifting. The friend character is overwhelmingly positive, and provides intentional comic relief.

Spoiler

I also interperet the ending as a happy one.

My problem with some of the Dardenne bros. films is their topical concerns threaten to overwhelm the narrative, which I thought was not the case in Rosetta (and some others). Definately my favorite of theirs.

[Black Hat]

For me

Spoiler

The friend was a saint of saints! There tho, he is so wonderful, that I could see that working against people's emotional reaction towards Rosetta and I doubt the Dardenne's want the audience to dislike her. Furthermore, I don't think liking her or not is supposed to matter, the key to the film is understanding her and I worry that the friends overwhelming goodness took away from the neutrality necessary to understanding her choices, motivations etc.

The ending was a relief rather than uplifting. That said I'm not sure if the ending was as appropriate as the rest of the film. Will Rosetta continue to keep going or was her friend's helping hand nothing but, a temporary respite from the inevitable?

[knives]

Perhaps a silly question, but what was wrong with Rosetta's stomach? My sister (who I watched the film with) argued period cramps, but we didn't notice anything that gave a definitive answer.

[chatterjees]

Your sister is probably right, my wife gave me the same explanation!