Had a little trouble getting to this preview. Hands up, I thought it was a Luna screening but it was actually at the Windsor. No matter, it turns out you can get from one cinema to the other in under 15 minutes. So, just in time to crimp off the end of a Matt Damon trailer, we settled in for The Rose Maker.
This lovingly made light
drama, set in northern France, positions itself as one thing, and then not so
subtly, takes a different tack. It opens with a prestigious flower show, where Madame Vernet (played
with irascible verve by Catherine Frot) and her slightly beleaguered assistant,
Véra (Olivia Côte) are clearly struggling to keep their small rose farm’s head
above water. It only adds to their feeling of deflation when Lamarzelle, an
oily business-oriented operator, wins the ‘rose of the year’ prize for the
umpteenth time in a row.
Somewhat irrationally, Vernet
decides to steal a rare rose from Lamarzelle, and in a nasty move, threatens to
send Fred and the others back if they don’t help her. This robbery is happily
consigned to history as the film progresses, as though Lamarzelle’s ‘crime’ of
not allowing freedom for others to use his property is worse than Vernet’s
theft. Perhaps there would have been a visible form of retribution in the film,
were this made in a more conservative film industry, but satisfyingly, it
doesn’t happen in The Rose Maker.
There is a sub-plot about Fred’s absent parents to flesh out his character, and the ultimate reconnection with them is a neat moment of rebuke. But the essence of the film is the relationship between Vernet and Fred. Vernet’s realisation that Fred has a gift for recognising smells, and her subsequent warming to him, and the others, is where the focus remains. These final scenes may be predictable, but the way director, Pierre Pinaud and his writers have grafted the two story threads of resilience and regrowth together would make most rose growers proud.
Incidentally, sister Mandy attests to the (near) accuracy of the flower husbandry/porn on show. For more of this insight, listen to the podcast attached.
The Rose Maker opens at Luna Palace Cinemas and Palace Cinemas on Aug 5th.
[Most of this review was also published on the Film Ink website - https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/the-rose-maker/]
See also:
This is a lot like the 2000 British film, Greenfingers, directed by Joel Hershman, and similar in nasal terms to Perfumes (2019), directed by Grégory Magne.
MILD SPOILERS AND FLORAL DESCRIPTIONS WITHIN POD!
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