ROSA LA ROSE, FILLE PUBLIQUE: Her Life To Live

French filmmaker Paul Vecchiali passed away in 2023 at the age of 92, but he’s nonetheless having a long-overdue moment. After all, it’s only recently that audiences on this side of the Atlantic have been given opportunities to be (re-)introduced to his work through new restorations of films such as his 1972 giallo The Strangler and his 1975 thriller Don’t Change Hands. Now, Radiance Films and the American Genre Film Archive are rolling out a new restoration of Vecchiali’s 1986 melodrama Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique, a stunning tale of female agency, sexuality, and solidarity that wears its cinematic influences proudly on its sleeve (it’s dedicated to Danielle Darrieux and Max Ophüls, Jean Renoir and Dora Doll, and Didier Albert) while still feeling fresh and exciting.

In Bloom

We first meet the young Parisian prostitute Rosa (Marianne Basler) on the streets around Les Halles, where she plies her trade alongside a found family of fellow sex workers. Rosa’s radiant beauty, cheerful attitude, and willingness to fulfill all fantasies make her the most in-demand woman in the neighborhood. When two men approach Rosa simultaneously and begin to fight over who deserves her company, she scolds them (“Summer is no time to fight—it’s too nice and hot”) and offers to take them to bed together to make them both happy. Two of her slightly older comrades speak with nostalgia and envy, but also a great deal of affection, of Rosa’s youth and beauty as prospective clients pass them by to seek Rosa’s services; these women also function as a sort of Greek chorus throughout the film, providing commentary on the plot and the characters.

With colleagues and clients who adore her and a pimp, Gilbert (Jean Sorel) who spoils her, Rosa leads a relatively easy life for someone in the oldest profession. But all of that comes to an abrupt end when she has a life-changing encounter with a handsome young laborer named Julien (Pierre Cosso) at a banquet to celebrate her 20th birthday. Vecchiali emphasizes the tragic inevitability of this scene by presenting it in the form of a Last Supper tableau, with Rosa in the position of the doomed Jesus as her friends chat and eat around her, blissfully unaware of the importance of the moment.

When Julien later attempts to purchase Rosa’s services, she tries to hide her desire for him under layers of frosty indifference, yet she eventually melts and succumbs to his affections. What makes this scene so powerful is the vivid expression of fear and vulnerability on Rosa’s face as she realizes what is happening; she has never felt these kinds of feelings before, authentic feelings of attraction that are earth-shattering compared to the shallow expressions of affection she utters every day to clients who pay for the privilege.

Free Love

Now that she knows what real love is, Rosa is determined to start a new kind of life with Julien; however, Gilbert is reluctant to let her go. For Rosa, the realization that she might not have control over her own life is alarming. She has always believed she could choose her clients, what she does with them, and when she’d be able to stop; the idea that her agency is merely an illusion is too much for her to bear. Rosa’s refusal to let others dictate her actions is part of what makes her such a wonderful character; she won’t even let Julien tell her what to do, instead telling him what actions he should take if they’re going to be together. Portrayed with robust spirit and sensuality by Basler in a performance that earned her a nomination for the César Award for Best Female Newcomer, this is a woman who, unlike the heroines of so many other hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold stories, does not need a man to save her; no one can save her except herself, even if her idea of salvation isn’t necessarily a traditional happy ending.

Vecchiali was a devoted disciple of the French filmmakers of the 1930s, yet there are glimpses in Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique of how his contemporaries as well as his forebears influenced his filmmaking. With her endless charm and determination, Rosa feels like a descendant of Angéla, the exotic dancer played by Anna Karina in Jean-Luc Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman, who famously fantasized about appearing in “a musical comedy starring Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly…choreography by Bob Fosse!”

Like A Woman is a Woman, Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique is not technically a musical, though music (and the spirit of movie musicals in the classic Hollywood style) plays a prominent role in the film. Composer and frequent Vecchiali collaborator Roland Vincent provides a synth theme that recurs throughout the film and is even echoed on the accordion during a carnival. At one point during Rosa’s birthday banquet, she and her comrades spontaneously break out in song, with Rosa sighing, “God, life would be so simple if I could believe in fantasy!” It’s no surprise that one spies a snapshot of Godard and Karina among the movie star pictures plastered around Rosa’s boudoir mirror, evidence that her belief in fantasy may be stronger than she claims, or at least it was before her encounter with Julien introduced her to the harsh truth of reality.

The camera movement in Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique reminds one of the fluid cinematography of similar female-driven melodramas directed by the aforementioned Max Ophüls, while the vivid color palette, rich in bright reds and deep blues, is reminiscent of prime Technicolor and adds an extra vintage touch to the film’s aesthetic. Yet the film’s approach to sexuality is decidedly modern, and even includes a mention of AIDS, something that Vecchiali would address the consequences of in greater detail in his 1988 film Encore. This and other evidence of the gritty milieu these characters inhabit keep the film grounded in the 1980s despite its unabashed nostalgia for cinema past.

Conclusion

Vecchiali’s stylish and subversive films have long been underseen in the United States; fortunately, new restorations are helping his work live on and find new audiences after his death. Needless to say, Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique deserves her second chance in the spotlight.

The new 2K restoration of Rosa La Rose, Fille Publique begins screening at Metrograph in New York on July 11, 2025.