Rosalie Blum (2015)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-More from Palace Films x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2015
Running Time	91:45
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Julien Rappeneau
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Noemie Lvovsky Kyan Khojandi Alice Isaac Anemone Sara Giraudeau Camille Rutherford
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Martin Rappeneau

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English (Burned In)	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Vincent (Kyan Khojandi), a balding middle-aged man, has a calm, simple life in a provincial French town. He runs a hairdressing salon and lives with his cat, his eccentric mother Simone (Anemone) and his mother’s collection of stuffed toys, some of which join them at the dinner table. But everything changes due to a random event; when purchasing groceries one day the woman who serves him in the shop looks familiar although Vincent cannot place her. Soon after he sees the woman again at the market and, intrigued, follows her to her home. Her name is Rosalie Blum (Noemie Lvovsky), a plain rather dowdy woman, but Vincent cannot get her out of his mind and starts to stalk her, following her around the town, into a movie theatre and a bar as well as stealing her rubbish. However Rosalie is aware that Vincent is following her. Equally intrigued, she asks her niece Aude (Alice Isaac), a 25 year old unemployed layabout, to follow Vincent in turn and to find out all about him, including why he is following Rosalie. Alice enlists her two friends Cecile (Sara Giraudeau) and Laura (Camille Rutherford) and the hunt is on, with unexpected consequences for all concerned.

     Rosalie Blum, based on the graphic novels by Camille Jourdy, is a film written and directed by Julien Rappeneau, his first feature, although he has a number of writing credits on his resume. The film is in three separate chapters; the first two entitled “Vincent” and “Aude” are from the point of view of those characters and occur simultaneously, sometimes presenting the same scene from different viewpoints. This concept sometimes can be chunky and contrived but in Rosalie Blum it is cleverly written and works a treat, leading to some very funny situations. The third chapter “Rosalie” takes place after the other two and neatly fills in the background as well as providing a satisfying conclusion.

     Rosalie Blum is a delightful film, smartly constructed and funny with the acting from the entire cast spot on. However, another strength of the film is that it has an underlying sadness that is never far away, with themes about love, loneliness and estranged families, although, as with all decent comedies, most problems are resolved for the better by the end. And, as well, the film features a very personable cast to good effect.

Video

     Rosalie Blum is in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The print is clear and detailed, with nice, natural colours during the daylight scenes. At night and under lights the print has a more glossy look including that digital yellowish tinge. Blacks and shadow detail are however very good, skin tones natural unless under the yellow lights, contrast and brightness consistent. I noticed some fleeting aliasing on window slats and sand but otherwise marks and artefacts were absent.

    The layer change was not noticeable on my equipment.

    White English subtitles are burnt in and so cannot be removed for those who speak French. They were error free.

Video Ratings Summary

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Shadow Detail
Colour
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Audio

     The two audio choices are French Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and French Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     Rosalie Blum is a comedy with no action which means the audio track is low key but fine. Dialogue was clear and the surrounds and rears featured some music, voices in the bar and rain. I really only noticed the subwoofer in the rain sequence when it added depth to the thunder. The original score by Martin Rappeneau was whimsical, thus suiting the film.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (1:28)

More from Palace Films

     Trailers for The Fencer (1:47), Mia Madre (1:37), Where Am I Going? (2:20), and Girlhood (1:47).

     There does not appear to be any other release of Rosalie Blum available at this time.

     The structure of Rosalie Blum, with simultaneously occurring events, is a clever concept that works a treat and leads to a lot of funny situations. This is a poignant film, well-acted by the impressive cast and full of surprises, right through to the end. It is a delight, and comes well recommended.

     The video and audio are fine, a film trailer and trailers for other films are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall