Rosalie Blum – movie review

Life throws up curve balls. You just never know when one will be pitched your way. So it is when thirty-something and balding Vincent Machot (Kyan Khojandi) – who has inherited his father’s hairdressing salon – goes out of his way to satisfy his mother’s food cravings. Machot cycles to the grocery store owned by Rosalie Blum (Noemie Lvovsky), who Machot believes he has met before. But for Blum there is no recognition and Machot is on his way back to mum’s place.

His overbearing mother, Simone (Anémone), to whom he seems forever beholden, lives in the same apartment block as him. For the past two years, Machot has supposedly been in a relationship with a woman, Marianne (who we never get to see), who is living and working in Paris but she seemingly avoids any and all attempts from him to see her. In any event, for no apparent reason, Machot becomes transfixed on Rosalie Blum and begins following her around, making sure he is not seen. Little does he realise that Blum is well and truly aware of his endeavours, but can’t work out why he is doing what he is doing. She calls on her 25-year-old niece Aude Cerceau (Alice Isaaz) to find out and that she does with the help of her two best friends.

Rosalie Blum is a story about lost souls and it is only as the picture unfolds that we find out more about them all. It is quirky and endearing, but it took me some time to warm to and get into, even if the slow reveal nature of proceedings ultimately works. Blum’s back-story is particularly anguished, while Machot’s life, though comfortable enough, hasn’t been a bed of roses either.

The film is based on a series of three graphic novels by Camille Jourdy. It marks the directorial debut of Julien Rappeneau. Rappaeneau discovered Jourdy’s comic strip when the third volume was published in 2009. He was immediately touched by the characters, whom he calls “complex and endearing” and “seduced by the delicate universe” they inhabit. Each of the main characters is in a state of arrested development. As Rappaeneau puts it, they are “blocked by their fear … their family history … their loneliness and they are no longer able to take charge of their lives.” Now thanks to happenstance they will be able to see and know “a resumption in movement”. He calls it “a resolutely optimistic fable”.

The action, such that it is, takes place in a small provincial town. Rosalie Blum is both comedic and moving, with the characters and their proclivities making it so. It is decidedly left of centre, feel good entertainment that marks an auspicious beginning for Julien Rappeneau. Ultimately you want to be carried along to see just where this is headed because it takes a few rather obtuse turns along the way. Rated PG, it scores a 7 out of 10.

Director: Julien Rappeneau
Cast: Kyan Khojandi, Noemie Lvovsky, Anémone, Alice Isaaz
Release Date: 26 December 2016
Rating: M

Alex First