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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Rosetta
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 6 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jean-Pierre Dardenna
Luc Dardenne
Directed by:
Jean-Pierre Dardenna
Luc Dardenne
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 5, 1999
Running Time: 95 minutes, Color
Origin: Belgium / France
Summary
RATING: R for language
Starring Emilie Dequenne, Fabrizio Rongione, Anne Yernaux, and Olivier Gourmet
This film follows a young and impulsive Belgian girl, Rosetta (Dequenne), who tries to establish an independent life and will do anything to maintain a job.
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Rosetta is a character of raw pride in a film of lingering power.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
You feel it in your nervous system before you get a chance to reflect on its meaning.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
The bleakness of Rosetta will not be for all, but it's one of the best films of the year.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The film has an odd subterranean power. It doesn't strive for our sympathy or make any effort to portray Rosetta as colorful, winning or sympathetic.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
An immensely uplifting movie whose final, unforgettable frames come as close as anything to answering the big questions about why we bother in a dog-eat-dog world.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Richard Jameson
The final reel of Rosetta is like nothing else ever filmed, and it would be wrong to describe it.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
This devastating film is buoyed by Dequenne's bravura willingness to go all out; she's a baby-faced kid when the camera focuses full on and an exceptionally beautiful young woman in profile.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Throughout this terse, entertaining parable (it won the grand prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival), the Belgian-born writer-directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne ("La Promesse," 1996) immerse you in the sensations of Rosetta's life.
Read Full Review >Film.com Peter Brunette
This kind of film, in its various manifestations recurring through the decades, gives us confidence that cinema can ultimately get to the heart of things.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Bleak, demanding stuff, and its hand-held documentary-style photography is harder on the stomach than "The Blair Witch Project."
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Carries a strong emotional charge along with its valuable reminder of the suffering that youngsters may undergo when a heedless society overlooks their needs.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
The film's loose, scaled-down technique never turns gimmicky...but enhances the tension and intimacy of Rosetta's struggle.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
A psychologically acute profile of one teenaged girl obsessed with leading what she thinks of as normal life.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Instead of feeling universal, the movie feels claustrophobic.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
A portrait of dispossession so acute that it's caused a few critics to cry, Let her eat cake!
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The Dardennes are talents, clearly. Watching Rosetta is like watching them flip you the bird.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Jack G. gave it a10:
Any review that takes a cheap shot at the character's appearance (as well as a cheap assessment of her intellect that's totally off the mark) can't be trusted.
Yoon C. gave it a 6:
A chubby gopherfaced halfwit girl living in poverty with an alcoholic mother wants a job more than anything else and then when she gets one by betraying the only person who's nice to her, quits. What is this? A abnormal psychological case study? Critique of European capitalism? Expose of socialist malaise? Shot in cinema verite style, it's a dizzying mess, not only muddled and confused but beyond our care. It has been compared with Mouchette but Bresson peered into the soul beneath the stark exterior of downtrodden lives. Dardennes brothers in their Marxist zeal are content to rub social dysfunction in our faces. I'd suggest they first figure it out before so eloquently slapping it around as art or social statement.
