Director; Stéphanie Di Giusto

Stars: Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Benoît Magimel, Gustav Kervern, Benjamin Biolay,

This middlebrow, but likeable enough drama, is loosely based on Clémentine Delait, ‘the most illustrious and celebrated bearded lady in France’. Tereszkiewicz is Rosalie, a young woman in 1870s France, who lives with her father (Kervern) in a French village. He has arranged for her to be married to the gruff Abel Deluc (Magimel), a cash-strapped local café owner who has accepted Rosalie’s father’s offer in order to secure her dowry. Abel is shocked when he discovers that his wife, who has been hiding her body from neck down, is uncommonly hirsute. He is initially brutish toward Rosalia but grows to respect her uncompromising spirit and gravitates towards her. The enterprising Rosalie grows her beard and advertises herself as an attraction at the café. Success follows, but Rosalie also attracts the attention of powerful factory owner Barcelin (Biolay) whose disapproval of Rosalie’s ‘flaunting’ of herself hides an obvious fascination and attraction. Other than Barcelin, Rosalie’s journey is surprisingly friction-free with locals taking to her quickly. It’s a pleasant enough inspirational tale, elevated considerably by winning performances from Tereszkiewicz as the indomitable titular character and Benoît Magimel as the taciturn, but essentially decent Abel. And a celebration of characters who do not see the need to conform to gender norms feels timely and welcome.

David Willoughby

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