| Madame Rosa | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Moshé Mizrahi |
| Written by | Moshé Mizrahi |
| Produced by | Jean Bolvary |
| Starring | Simone Signoret Michal Bat-Adam Samy Ben-Youb Gabriel Jabbour Geneviève Fontanel |
| Cinematography | Néstor Almendros |
| Edited by | Sophie Coussein |
| Music by | Dabket Loubna Philippe Sarde |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. (through Warner-Columbia Film) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Box office | $2.6 million[1] |
Madame Rosa (French:La vie devant soi) is a 1977 French drama film directed byMoshé Mizrahi, adapted from the 1975 novelThe Life Before Us byRomain Gary. It starsSimone Signoret and Samy Ben-Youb, and tells the story of an elderly Jewish woman and former prostitute in Paris who cares for a number of children, including an adolescent Algerian boy. The film required a transformation in Signoret's appearance as Madame Rosa.
The film was viewed in context ofArab–Israeli conflicts, and received positive reviews. It won theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, while Signoret won theCésar Award for Best Actress for her performance.
InBelleville,Paris, Madame Rosa, an elderlyFrench Jew andHolocaust survivor who worked as aprostitute, now runs aboarding home for the children of prostitutes. One of them is Momo, anAlgerian boy who is believed to be 11. Although Madame Rosa is Jewish and sometimes makesracist comments about Momo, she raises Momo as aMuslim in respect of his heritage, taking him to her friend Mr. Hamil for instruction inreligion,French literature, andArabic at theGrand Mosque. She is in fact concealing the fact that Momo is 14, expressing strong skepticism about official documents and what they can or cannot prove, and, as a result, is unable to send him to a regularprimary school.
Momo steals a dog from a pet shop. He later impulsively sells the dog for 500francs and stuffs the money into the sewer. Rosa, who regards Momo as a troublemaker, takes him to her physician Dr. Katz under the belief that he issyphilitic ormentally ill. Momo later follows her after she has anightmare about theAuschwitz concentration camp to discover her hidden Jewish space under the staircase, and the two begin to develop a closer bond. Later, after Momo dresses himself up as a prostitute and a real prostitute takes him to a cafe run by a friend of Madame Rosa's believing that he needs help, Madame Rosa makes Momo swear never to prostitute himself or become aprocurer. In a park, Momo meets a femalefilm editor, and she tells him he can visit her lab any time he likes.
Madame Rosa is in exceedingly poor health and begins experiencingdementia, at times having flashbacks to theVel d’Hiv roundup and falling back into the belief that she will be arrested by theFrench Police and sent back to Auschwitz. Mr. Hamil also begins to have dementia, taking solace in the writings ofVictor Hugo. After she has a bad fall on the stairs, Dr. Katz informs Momo that she has many health issues includinghypertension. She refuses to be hospitalized. Momo believes she should beeuthanized. When told by Dr. Katz that euthanasia contradicts French values, Momo replies he is not French and that Algerians believe inself-determination. Momo's father, who spent time in anasylum after murdering Momo's mother, returns to try to collect Momo, but Madame Rosa tricks him into believing that she raised him as a Jew and he suffers a fatalstroke. Momo is with Madame Rosa when she retreats to her Jewish space under the staircase to die, and is discovered with her body three weeks later. Afterwards, he goes to live with the film editor.
Israeli directorMoshé Mizrahi made the film after moving to France.[2] While the film was based on a novel, Mizrahi was also inspired to make the film from having been raised in Egypt, Israel and Palestine. As actressSimone Signoret said: "He's immersed in the two cultures, Arab and Jews. They're his two loves".[3]
Signoret, who starred as Madame Rosa, was initially advised by her husbandYves Montand not to take the role, and refused it for a year. Signoret explained why she was eventually persuaded to play the part, saying, "A role like that comes every 20 years. It is a cake. She is everything— liar, sincere, gourmand, poor, stupid, intelligent, warm, nasty. And she dies on top of that. If I had said 'no,' and another woman had played it, I would have been sick".[4]
She had to gain significant weight for the part, with Mizrahi choosing undersized dresses with floral decorations to accentuate the weight gain.[5] Signoret was in her 50s at the time, and was made to appear 10 years older, with her wrinkles accentuated and her cheeks widened with cotton. Her legs were also padded.[4]
With two million viewers,La vie devant soi was a great success in France.[6] Its success may have been aided by the popularity of the TV seriesMadame le juge, which Signoret starred in.[7]
The film opened on 19 March 1978 at the Plaza Theater inNew York City.[8] It made $5.2 million in the United States.[9]
Madame Rosa met "acclaim" in North America.[10]Vincent Canby, writing forThe New York Times, judged thatMoshé Mizrahi's direction of the film was beautiful, and Madame Rosa was "a tremendous character", Signoret's "best role in years".[8]Molly Haskell, writing forNew York, interpreted the story as "a wishful fable of Israeli-Arab reconciliation", and said it "managed to get to" her.[11] TheWisconsin Jewish Chronicle praised it as "an unforgettable film", asking, "How can a film aboutpimps, whores,transvestites and average people who populate Belleville in France be a film about love and human kindness? ...It's a story of warmth and understanding between Arab and Jew".[12] Anna Simons ofThe Harvard Crimson stated the film "is carried to near perfection by Simone Signoret's brilliant rendition of Madame Rosa and Samy Ben Youb's impressive performance as Momo".[13]
James Monaco's 1992The Movie Guide, reviewing theVHS, gaveMadame Rosa three and a half stars, stating it "handles its underlying conflicts—between Arabs and Jews, between Nazis and Jews—well, and explores its mixed racial and cultural milieu with grace, sensitivity and subtlety".[14] In 2013, Xavier Leherpeur ofL'Express described Signoret as unforgettable in the film.[15] In his2015 Movie Guide,Leonard Maltin gave it two and a half stars, describing it as "aimless".[16]
Madame Rosa has an approval rating of 89% onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 9 reviews, and an average rating of 7.4/10.[17]
Madame Rosa's release, at a time when U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter was negotiating a peace between Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat and Israeli Prime MinisterMenachem Begin, boosted its campaign at theAcademy Awards,[6] where it ultimately won forBest Foreign Language Film. While the film represented France, Mizrahi became the first Israeli director whose film won the award.[3] CriticMolly Haskell believed the award, "in the principle of compensation", was balanced byVanessa Redgrave winning theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress, allowing Redgrave to make a controversial statement in favour of thePalestine Liberation Organization.[11] In response to Redgrave's speech, Mizrahi commented, "Basically, she's right".[18] In France, Signoret won theCésar Award for Best Actress, which she had not received before.[19]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | 3 April 1978 | Best Foreign Language Film | France | Won | [20] |
| César Awards | 4 February 1978 | Best Actress | Simone Signoret | Won | [21] |
| Best Production Design | Bernard Evein | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound | Jean-Pierre Ruh | Nominated | |||
| Golden Globes | 28 January 1978 | Best Foreign Language Film | Madame Rosa | Nominated | [22] |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association | 16 December 1978 | Best Foreign Language Film | Moshé Mizrahi | Won | [23] |