La vie devant soi

Am I the only one who mourns the passing of Channel Four and its culture mission in its formative launch under Jeremy Isaacs? Quite apart from classical music and dance, the late night schedule included films such as Madame Rosa and La Maschera, La Nuit de Varennes and Collard's Les Nuits Fauves. Acclaimed film based on an acclaimed novel (part autobiographical) from an author with the ego and genius of a Latin Hemingway, it turns on the plight of a child on the backstreets of Marseilles and the down to earth support both physical and emotional offered by the ageing Madame Rosa played by Signoret in what must be the complete summation of her fabulous movie career. Slice of life would be a description of the plot with all its complexity and richness and gnawing sense of incompleteness - though this movie is complete and fulfilled. It's recent emergence from Kino on BLU RAY and DVD, unfortunately only in the Regions A and 1 format, after a long absence, perhaps 30 odd years since I watched it spellbound on Channel Four TV, is to be applauded to the heavens. I still am spellbound.

Knowing that MADAME ROSA had triumphed at the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category when in direct competition with Luis Bunuel's superb swan song THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE had always made me want to check it out. As had been the case the previous year with BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR and COUSIN, COUSINE, two movies shot in French found themselves among the final five nominees for the same award since, in this case, OBJECT was submitted as Spain's official entry for consideration!; for the record, the other nominees that year were A SPECIAL DAY (Italy), IPHIGENIA (Greece) and OPERATION THUNDERBOLT (Israel; which I will be catching up with presently given my ongoing Oscar-themed marathon).

As far as I am aware, there had only been a solitary Italian TV screening of MADAME ROSA over the years but no home video release in my neck of the woods; eventually I came across it by chance fairly recently via a hazy 'full movie' video on "You Tube" – presumably culled from a Hen's Tooth NTSC VHS – which occasionally also suffers from white subtitles against a white background but, thanks to my grasp of the French language, that liability did not pose too much of a problem. Egyptian-born Israeli director Mizrahi had previously been among the Oscar nominees for both I LOVE YOU, ROSA (1972) and THE HOUSE ON CHELOUCHE STREET (1973) where it had deservedly lost out to another Bunuel effort, namely THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE, and Francois Truffaut's DAY FOR NIGHT respectively; while the film under review remains his best-known work, he has at least three other entries of interest in his filmography: I SENT A LETTER TO MY LOVE (1980; with Simone Signoret, Jean Rochefort and Delphine Seyrig), LA VIE CONTINUE (1981; with Annie Girardot and Jean-Pierre Cassel) and EVERY TIME WE SAY GOODBYE (1986; with Tom Hanks and Christina Marsillach) – only the first of these, however, is available to me at this point.

Although the film's original French title literally translates to "The Life Ahead Of Him" and applies to the character of a troubled Arab teenager named Mohammed but affectionately known as Momo' (a quietly impressive Samy Ben-Youb – who, at one point, callously sells off an amiable mutt he had just acquired for 500 francs…which he then proceeds to throw down the sewer through a street grating!), it is understandable that internationally it was retitled as MADAME ROSA since Simone Signoret's moving central characterization of an overweight, moribund former Jewess prostitute-turned-"wet nurse" to the brood of whores dominates the entire movie; interestingly enough, she had already portrayed a whore-with-a-heart-of-gold in Luis Bunuel's DEATH IN THE GARDEN (1956). While at the very start of the film (adapted from Romain Gary's novel) Madame Rosa is shown caring for a dozen kids spawned by working streetwalkers, by the end of it only two remain – the others having been in the meantime 'adopted' by families of their respective nationality and creed that have likewise emigrated to the Parisian 'red light' district of Pigalle. Indeed, one of the film's highlights is when Momo''s mentally defective and wife- murdering Muslim father turns up on Madame Rosa's doorstep after 11 years to claim him but she – in front of the boy's very own eyes – tries to pass off her other Jewish charge Moishe' as his son; obviously, the broken man is horrified on learning that his Muslim offspring had been raised as a Jew, infuriatingly charges out of the room and expires at the foot of the steps from a heart attack!

Rosa herself – who is periodically afflicted by strokes (among other debilitating ailments) and is constantly being visited by a sympathetic medic (a fine Claude Dauphin) and doted upon by a friendly negro boxer- turned-transsexual prostitute(!) dubbed Madame Lola – does not want to be left alone or moved to a hospital and convinces Momo' to let her die peacefully in her underground Jewish hideout. When she expires, he pretties her up with make-up and remains locked up in there with her corpse for a three weeks, until the deathly smell alerts the neighbours to the tragic event. Momo' – who throughout the film was being schooled by a Muslim scholar fond of reading Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" aloud to him (who eventually goes blind) – goes to live with an attractive female film editor (Mizrahi's own wife Michal Bat-Adam) whom he had befriended at a street corner puppet show; curiously enough, her live-in reporter companion, who also interviews Momo' on his life experiences at one point, is played by Greek film director Costa-Gavras! Ultimately, having now watched MADAME ROSA, while definitely not superior to THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE, it is certainly better than Leonard Maltin's **1/2 rating and nowhere near as miserable a viewing experience as the plot outline above would suggest.

By all accounts Yves Montand advised his wife Simone Signoret not to play Madame Rosa. Happily for us she could not resist such a gift of a role and picked up both a Cesar and a Donatello for her trouble. The film itself won an Oscar which was probably due not just to its excellence but to its 'message' reflecting the sensitive Middle East politics of the time.

This is a beautifully realised piece by Moshe Mizrahi based upon the novel by Romain Cary who sadly took his own life in 1980. The score by Philippe Sarde and Babket Loubna is wonderfully subtle as are the muted tones of Nestor Almendros' cinematography.

As a former prostitute and holocaust survivor who looks after the children of 'working girls' in a sixth floor apartment, Madame Rosa forms a close bond with a young Algerian boy named Momo whose father has murdered his mother. Simone Signoret's rich and understated performance is a distillation of her vast experience in front of the camera and her innate sensitivity. Unusually for an actress she was seemingly without vanity and certainly piled on the pounds for the character. Rosa is tantamount to a guardian angel to Momo and their scenes together are excellent. His other guardian angel is a film editor played by the director's wife Michal Bat-Adam. Mention must also be made of veteran Claude Dauphin as the local doctor. One cannot help wondering what became of Samy Ben-Yubi who plays Momo as this was his first and last film.

Star and director had such a good rapport that they worked together again on 'Chere inconnue'. Coincidentally Montand starred two years later in 'Womanlight' based on another Romain Carey novel.

'Madame Rosa' beat off some stiff competition to win the Oscar, not least 'A Special Day' starring Sophia Loren. Miss Loren just happens to be the latest and very recent incarnation of Rosa in 'A Life ahead of us.' This remake has already attracted dozens of reviews on IMDb whereas the total reviews for the original amount to just seven. As Shakespeare reminds us: "The present eye praises the present object"!

A powerful drama directed by the Egyptian Moshé Mizrahi, adapted by himself from Émile Ajar's (Romain Gary) novel "The Life Before Us", winner of the Goncourt Prize and one of the greatest successes of French literature of the 20th century. It also earned Mizrahi the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1978 and Signoret the César for best actress.

A belated but profoundly human realism, passed among the prostitutes and transsexuals of Pigalle, among Muslims, Jews and Christians, among Nigerians, Vietnamese and Algerians, all united in the struggle for survival and above all in the human condition, which surpasses all differences and unites all peoples and races.

A humanist and deeply inclusive work, avant la lettre, with a memorable performance by Simone Signoret.

It's a shame that this film doesn't have a wider audience here in the US. Simone Signoret gives perhaps the finest performance of a distinguished career, unafraid to let the ravages of time and hard living show.

The film has some surface similarities to Central Station in that both films are about older women finding new meaning when having to care for a child, street urchins in each film. Both women are embittered and angry at life in general.

Rent Madam Rosa if you can find it. Anyone who loves exceptional film will be happy they gave this one their time.