Rosalie Blum (2015)

Vincent Machot knows his life by heart. He shares between his hairdressing salon, his cousin, his cat, and his too invasive mother. But life sometimes surprises even the most cautious - He ... See full summary »

Director:

Julien Rappeneau

Writers:

Camille Jourdy (graphic novels: "Rosalie Blum"), Julien Rappeneau

Stars:

Noémie Lvovsky, Kyan Khojandi, Alice Isaaz

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Noémie Lvovsky	...	Rosalie Blum
Kyan Khojandi	...	Vincent Machot
Alice Isaaz	...	Aude Cerceau
Anémone	...	Simone Machot
Philippe Rebbot	...	Kolocataire
Sara Giraudeau	...	Cécile
Camille Rutherford	...	Laura
Nicolas Bridet	...	Laurent
Pierre Diot	...	Le client ivre au bar
Matthias Van Khache	...	Le copain du client ivre
Grégoire Oestermann	...	Monsieur Machot - le père d'Aude
Jean-Michel Lahmi	...	Le conseiller de Pôle Emploi
Aude Pépin	...	La soeur d'Aude
Jaouen Gouevic	...	Vincent Machot enfant
Vincent Colombe	...	Le journaliste

Storyline

Vincent Machot knows his life by heart. He shares between his hairdressing salon, his cousin, his cat, and his too invasive mother. But life sometimes surprises even the most cautious - He meets up with Rosalie Blum, a mysterious and lonely woman, he is convinced to have already met her. But where? Intrigued, he decides to follow her everywhere, hoping to learn more. He did not suspect that this spinning takes him on an adventure full of surprises, where he will discover fantastic characters as endearing. One thing is certain: Vincent Machot's life will change.

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Plot Keywords:

hairdressing salon | character name as title | two word title | cat | nosebleed | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Production company website

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

23 March 2016 (France)

Also Known As:

Розали Блюм

Filming Locations:

Nevers, Nièvre, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Film, CG Cinéma, France 2 Cinéma

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

French visa # 141646.

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Goofs

Aude is shown using a Minolta X-300s SLR film camera and what is seen when looking through the viewfinder. The viewfinder displays a range of available apertures and the selected one highlighted. However, the real viewfinder shows only the selected aperture, through a window.

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Connections

References Psycho (1960)

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Soundtracks

Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying
Written by Stuart Murdoch
Performed by Belle & Sebastian

User Reviews

A whimsical jigsaw puzzle of quirky characters connected by chance

The French film Rosalie Blum (2016) is a low-key comedy that uses whimsical coincidence as a narrative framing device. Whimsy is an old-fashioned term that describes something playfully funny about nothing of consequence. Rather than plot-driven, this story is like a loose jigsaw puzzle of quirky characters whose paths connect by chance and whose lives become entwined. Part of the whimsy comes from the story being told from three different viewpoints that eventually converge to explain little more than how the paths came to intersect in the first place. Vincent is a balding shy downtrodden 30-something hairdresser dominated by his mother and emotionally still a child. By chance he meets middle-aged shopkeeper Rosalie and is perplexed by the feeling he knows her from somewhere. To fill his empty life, he begins to follow her and she soon notices his stalking. Rosalie asks her niece Aude to follow him to find out what's going on and she readily agrees just for fun. The story switches to their view of the adventure, and we see Aude and her friends as accident-prone bumbling detectives. Rosalie enjoys the attention as the characters continue to secretly watch each other until the game reaches it quaintly funny and inconsequential finale. A thin plot line like this needs added substance to make it work and this comes from characterisation and charming French village setting. Vincent is neither likable nor unlikeable, just innocuously ordinary and he plays this part to perfection. The relationship with his mother both humanises him and renders him hopelessly dependent. Rosalie is equally unfulfilled with a sad story of her own about an estranged son; she is sanguine about life and accepting of its disappointments. Aude is the spark that ignites the two hollow logs, exuberantly youthful and optimistic. Together with her excitable sleuthing friends they create several of the comic sketches that inject humour into an otherwise colourless tale. The narrative tension that sustains our curiosity comes from the hanging possibility of romance and our need for an explanation of Vincent's obsessive behaviour. All are loners, and loneliness is a magnet for meaning and attachment. Describing this film as a comedy is using the label in its most elastic form. There are many chuckles but few laughs: whimsy is like that. Quirky, soulful and curious are words that come closer to describing this modestly engaging tale about nothing much at all and the little-known actors rise to the challenge. The story elevates ordinariness to a higher plane and satisfies the curiosity it contrives with a simple yet charming finale.