In 1870s Brittany, Rosalie is a young woman who hides a secret: she is a
bearded lady. In an effort to not to be rejected, she forces herself to shave. Abel, owner of a café and in debt, marries Rosalie for her dowry without knowing his fiancée's secret.
Rosalie was produced by Alain Attal through his production company Trésor Films. In May and June 2022, the production announced searches for extras for the shooting of
Stéphanie Di Giusto's next film, tentatively titled La Rosalie, starring with
Nadia Tereszkiewicz and
Benoît Magimel, scheduled to take place in
Brittany between October and November.[6][7] The film is co-produced by
France 3 Cinéma, Laurent Dassault Rond Point, Artémis Productions (Belgium), and
Gaumont.[8]
That same month, Trésor Films announced the theatrical and sales rights were acquired by Gaumont.[9]
Filming
Filming began on 6 October 2022 in the
Brittany region of France.[10] It took place in the
Forges des Salles [
fr], a former steel producing village in central Brittany that straddles the border between
Côtes-d'Armor and
Morbihan. The village was discovered by the director after it was featured in the programme Des racines et des ailes.[11][12] Filming also took place in the commune of
Duault (
Côtes-d'Armor), where the Manor of Rosviliou was staged as an orphanage.[13] Filming also took place in the commune of
Concarneau (
Finistère) at the Château de Kériolet, which was used for its guard room. The banquet scene was shot there, where around fifty local extras were brought in.[14][15] Filming concluded at the start of December.[10]
Forges des Salles.
Manor of Rosviliou.
Château de Kériolet.
Release
The film was selected to be screened in the
Un Certain Regard section of the
76th Cannes Film Festival,[16] where it had its world premiere on 18 May 2023.[17] It was screened at the Théâtre Claude Debussy.[5] At Cannes, it was selected to compete for the
Queer Palm award. Juror
Isabel Sandoval defined that "queer" "is to resist conformity and exempt oneself from the mainstream".[18] Franck Finance-Madureira, a journalist and creator of the Queer Palm, defined it as "anything that breaks the norm, anything that breaks gender codes and anything that challenges patriarchy".[19]
The film was originally set to be released theatrically in France by
Gaumont on 24 January 2024,[20] but the release date was pushed back to 10 April 2024.[21]
Reception
Critical response
Rosalie received an average rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars on the French website
AlloCiné, based on 30 reviews.[22]