| Rosaline | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Karen Maine |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | When You Were Mine byRebecca Serle and Romeo and Juliet byWilliam Shakespeare |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Laurie Rose |
| Edited by | Jennifer Lee |
| Music by | |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Rosaline is a 2022 Americanromantic comedy film directed byKaren Maine, written byScott Neustadter andMichael H. Weber, and starringKaitlyn Dever,Isabela Merced,Kyle Allen,Sean Teale,Christopher McDonald,Minnie Driver, andBradley Whitford. It is based on the 2012young adult novelWhen You Were Mine byRebecca Serle, which in turn was inspired byWilliam Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet.
The film had its world premiere on October 6, 2022, at theEl Capitan Theatre and was released on October 14, 2022, onHulu in the United States,Disney+ internationally andStar+ in Latin America. The film was removed from Disney+ on May 26, 2023, but was later made available digitally on September 26, 2023.[1][2] Although visually a period costume film, the dialogue uses modern English and slang.
Rosaline is an independent-minded, unconventional young lady from the House Capulet. She has been secretly seeingRomeo, a member of the Capulets' rivals, the Montagues, and arranges to meet him at the Capulet masquerade ball. Rosaline misses the ball after a meeting with a potential suitor, Dario Penza, introduced by her father, leads to them becoming trapped on a boat in a storm and she rudely rejects his courtship; meanwhile, at the ball, Romeo meets and becomes smitten with Rosaline's cousinJuliet. Next day, after Romeo does not arrive to see her, Rosaline follows him and sees him wooing Juliet.
Lord and Lady Capulet call on Rosaline's father Adrian, taking with them Juliet and her cousinTybalt. Rosaline tells Juliet that she knows of Juliet's liaison with Romeo and lies about Romeo romancing many other women. Then, she takes Juliet out to a cheap drinking house to meet men, hoping to make her forget about Romeo. Rosaline becomes dismayed when Romeo does not reply to her letters. She then discovers letters he has written to Juliet, which she takes. Finding Juliet expecting Romeo, Rosaline encourages her to spurn him and he leaves, but Juliet sees Rosaline's necklace engraved with Romeo's and Rosaline's names and realizes that her cousin has lied to her.
Rosaline convinces her friend Count Paris that he can distract attention from hishomosexuality by courting Juliet; the Capulets heartily accept the suit, much to Juliet's dismay. Rosaline finds a letter from Romeo to Juliet asking her toelope with him. Rosaline grudgingly accepts Dario as an escort when she ventures out to infiltrate the Montague estate after dark, intending to stop the wedding, but they are seen by guards and pursued; after Dario fights off the guards, they escape on horseback, but fail to stop the wedding. Rosaline's attitude to Dario softens, but Dario tells Rosaline he will be leaving next day to rejoin the navy.
Accepting what has happened, Rosaline sends Romeo's letters back to Juliet, but her message is intercepted by Tybalt who challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo kills Tybalt, and both fathers angrily demand that Romeo and Juliet's marriage be annulled, and declare war on each other.
Rosaline goes to apologise to Dario and asks him to help Romeo and Juliet leave the country in his boat. They go to Juliet's room to tell her, only to learn that Juliet has already carried out her plan to fake her death by drinking a potion. Later, Rosaline arrives at Juliet's body to find Romeo with her but still alive, as Dario had informed him of the plan. Rosaline tells Romeo to also pretend to be dead, and scolds the arriving Montagues and Capulets for having caused this by their feud. The families reconcile and depart. Rosaline and Dario see Romeo and Juliet off in Dario's boat before sharing a kiss.
In amid-credits scene, Romeo and Juliet on the boat trip struggle to find common interests.
In May 2021, it was announced that20th Century Studios had picked up the film, after initially starting development over atMGM. It was also announced thatKaren Maine had been hired to direct the film based on a screenplay byScott Neustadter andMichael H. Weber, which in turn is based on the 2012young adult novelWhen You Were Mine byRebecca Serle.[3]
That same month,Kaitlyn Dever was cast in the title role.[3] Later in June 2021,Isabela Merced was cast asJuliet.[4] In July 2021,Kyle Allen was cast asRomeo.[5] That same month,Bradley Whitford was cast.[6] In August,Minnie Driver signed on to play a take on the Nurse from the original story.[7]
Filming began inTuscany, Italy, in September 2021 and concluded that October.[8][9][10]
Drum & Lace andIan Hultquist were attached to compose the film by May 2022.[11] The two used instruments such as the harpsichord, lute, wooden flutes, and Renaissance drums alongside contemporary instruments like drum machines andanalog andsoft synths for the score, which was recorded inNew York City. The two also had a 15-piece string ensemble.[12]
First look images were revealed on August 11, 2022.[13][14] The official trailer was released on September 22, 2022, set toIcona Pop's 2012 song "I Love It".[15][16] Writing forIndieWire, Samantha Bergeson stated that "Rosaline in part acts as a who's-who ofGen Z Hollywood", citing Dever, Merced, and Allen starring in the upcoming filmsTicket to Paradise,Madame Web, and the now cancelled live-actionMasters of the Universe, respectively.[15][17]
Rosaline had its world premiere on October 6, 2022, at theEl Capitan Theatre.[18][19] The film was released on October 14, 2022, onHulu in the United States,Disney+ internationally,Disney+ Hotstar in Southeast Asia andStar+ in Latin America.[13][20] Disney announced thatRosaline would stream onDisney+ in the US but limited for 5 days, which would start from February 10 to 15. It is no longer available on Disney+ in the US, but it is currently available digitally on other platforms, includingAmazon Prime Video,Vudu andGoogle Play as of September 26, 2023.[2]
According toWhip Media,Rosaline was the sixth most streamed movie across all platforms in the United States during the week of October 16, 2022,[21][22] and the 8th most streamed movie across all platforms in the United States during the week of October 21, 2022.[23]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 75% of 83 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Rosaline covers well-trod territory, but Kaitlyn Dever's engaging performance in the title role makes this period romance easy to love."[24]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25]
