“I loved you Rosa but we are different. You dream of everlasting love. Not me. Despite the horror and the sorrow, I love our world, I want us all to live.”
Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert) are two inseperable teenage girls, growing up in 60s Britain, during the time of the cold war. They are forced to come to terms with the fact they are growing apart in this uncertain world they live in.
Sally Potter’s coming of age tale is beautifully shot, superbly acted, poetic and artistic. While these are all positives, they can also be classed as negatives. Not all will be enthralled by the beautiful imagery that is on the screen, or forgive some of the drawn out scenes. For some, this will be the downfall of the film. The amount of beauty does not necessarily make a passionate, beautiful film. While the essence of the film is good, there is just something missing, and that something is passion.
Elle Fanning tries to inject the passion but it’s too much to put on one person. Fanning’s performance as Ginger is a stand out. At 13, she is playing a 16 year old with not a bother on her. Fanning elicits passion, beauty, honesty, rawness and humour, way beyond her years. This is the role that many will look back on as the one that made her mark in Hollywood!
She is supported wonderfully by a superb cast which includes, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Christina Hendricks and Annette Benning.
Despite it’s slow pacing, which could frustrate many an audience member, it will manage to get under your skin for all the right reasons. This is a film that challenges you to think about your own life, question friendships and the choices you make. And if a film can do that, then, while it may not be a masterpiece, it has still, at the very least, left its mark!
Ginger and Rosa opens in Irish cinemas today.
That’s Entertainment!
Sarina 🙂
thebellissimofiles 