Rosetta (DVD)

Rosetta (DVD) ... ... / Features of the DVD: PAL / Belgian miserabilism might sound like an instant turn-off but Rosetta, the winner of the 1999 Palme d'or at Cannes, is gripping right from the start. Made by brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, former documentary-makers, the film tracks a young woman who lives with her alcoholic mother in a caravan park on the outskirts of Liége as she desperately tries to get a job. It literally follows her story: the Dardennes use a handheld camera that hugs Rosetta's shoulder, plunging us into her dead-end world and making us share her urgent need for "a real job and a normal life".In the title role, first-time actress Emilie Dequenne gives an astounding performance. With her square, sullen face, stumpy walk and outbursts of indignant violence, she radiates fury and grim determination. Whether bullying her wretched mother or betraying the only person who ever showed her kindness so that she can grab his job, she's never for a moment ingratiating, and the Dardennes avoid all special pleading: we're told nothing of how Rosetta got where she is, or why. Yet she holds our sympathy despite everything, and the ending, when for the first time the glimmer of a gentler emotion lightens her features, brings more sense of real uplift than any dozen mainstream feel-good films. --Philip Kemp