Rosetta is being screened in memory of the recently passed Émilie Dequenne. For this debut role, she immediately won the Best Actress award at Cannes, launching her impressive career in Francophone arthouse cinema.
Rosetta (Émilie Dequenne) lives with her alcoholic mother (Anne Yernaux) in a dilapidated trailer on the outskirts of Seraing, an industrial town in Wallonia. Determined to escape the bleakness of her existence, she clings to the one thing that can offer stability: work. But the world she navigates is unforgiving—opportunities vanish as quickly as they appear. When she finds a job at a waffle stand and forms a tentative friendship with her colleague Riquet (Fabrizio Rongione), her relentless survival instinct is put to the test. How far is she willing to go to secure her place in society?
With Rosetta, the Dardenne brothers remain true to their raw, social-realist style, in which they are masters. The jittery handheld camera stays close to Dequenne, making every step Rosetta takes almost palpable. The bleak landscape, where the Dardenne brothers themselves grew up, underscores the harsh living conditions of the protagonists. The film won not only the Best Actress award at Cannes but also the prestigious Palme d’Or.