L.A. premiere of a brand new restoration, courtesy of American Genre Film Archive (AGFA)

Among the unsung French arthouse films of the 1980s, independent filmmaker Paul Vecchiali’s emotionally confrontational, sexually frank masterpiece is an homage to the golden age of melodrama, starring Marianne Basler as a Les Halles sex worker who charms everyone she meets. But her good standing with pimp Gilbert (Jean Sorel) is upended when she falls for working-class Julien (Pierre Cosso), with whom she ponders starting a new life. With its rich color palette, emotional intensity and sweeping camerawork, Vecchiali’s tale of doomed love evokes Fassbinder’s revisionist melodramas and Jacques Demy’s musicals in its frank sexuality and embrace of artifice.

In French with English subtitles. Special thanks to Bret Berg (AGFA).

“Almost Shakespearean in its execution, Paul Vecchiali’s underseen drama explores class consciousness and female sexuality with startling precision. Anchored by a magnetic central performance from the then 20-year-old Marianne Basler, ROSA LA ROSE, FILLE PUBLIQUE is a true hidden gem.” -Radiance

“A weepie in the style of a 19th-century novel set on the sleazy backstreets of 1980s Paris.” -Caroline Golum, Screen Slate