"Rosetta"
1999
Directed by Luc Dardenne/Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Profound and uncompromisingly realistic portrait of a young girl trying to survive a life of poverty. Desperate to get a job, suffering from stomach cramps and aggressively protective and critical of her alcoholic mother, she grasps at the slightest glimpse of hope, a job at a waffle stand. "This may sound like the grimmest sort of neo-realism, but the Dardennes keep the story so ruthlessly unsentimental and physical it would be a disservice to describe it as neo anything...it makes just about every other form of movie 'realism' around at the moment look like trivial escapism" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Newcomer Emilie Dequenne won Best Actress honors at Cannes. Winner of the Palme d'Or. French with English subtitles.  95 minutes.