THE ROSE MAKER/ LA FINE FLEUR

France, 2020, 95 minutes, Colour.

Catherine Frot, Manel Foulgoc, Fatsah Bouyahmed, Olivia Cote, Marie Petiot, Vincent Dedienne.

Directed by Pierre Pinaud.

A must for Gardeners Anonymous! A delight for those gardeners who are not anonymous! And for those, like this reviewer, who are not gardeners at all, a very pleasant entertainment.

There is something about the status of the rose amongst all the flowers of creation. There is beauty, there is colour, there are the colours and blends, there are petals and shapes… And, they are certainly to the forefront in this story of the cultivation of roses, the creation of beautiful hybrids, fields of roses, greenhouses specialties, and the drama of exhibitions and competitions.

In the 2019 film, Perfumes, there was an emphasis on the wonders of scents – and a rather prim expert and her dependence on her chauffeur. Perfumes could be something of a cousin to The Rose Maker.

However, there is nothing prim about the characters here. Actually, they are rather rough diamonds, emphasis on diamond emerging from the rough. Again, the central character is a middle-aged woman, Eve (Catherine Frot), no husband, no children, only the heritage from her beloved father of cultivating roses. And she has a devoted assistant, Vera (actress-writer Olivia Cote), who has really sacrificed herself to try to keep the Rose cultivation market financially afloat.

There is a villain of the piece, a rose entrepreneur, who is in it for the business side, the prestige at continually winning competitions, relying on his assistants for their creativity in producing a new rose year by year. He has his eye on Eve’s business and would like to buy her out. He offers a position for her to work for him.

But Vera makes contact with a company who place workers who are looking for jobs. So, three different types arrive to work in the fields and the greenhouses, a 50-year-old man who is certainly looking for security, a young woman who is rather slow but delights in creativity in the roses, a young man, surly, abandoned by his parents when he was a child, in and out of jail for burglary.

We know they are going to bond – and the young man is going to discover that he has expert olfactory abilities, knows his scents and is able to remember the details.

However, Eve does rely on them for a bit of their criminal talent in order to upstage the entrepreneur.

So, delight in looking at the roses, the process of hybridisation (now there’s a word to add to vocabulary!), the changes over the seasons of the year (including a dramatic hailstorm), ingenuity to go out into the market to sell roses to boost the finances.

We hope that all will work out well – and it is quite a pleasing experience to watch the roses in this company. And some wonderful close-ups of the flowers during the final credits.

1. Title? The French title and application of flowers? The more straightforward English title?
2. The setting, towns outside Paris, the vast feels for the roses, the holding of the competitions, the interiors, the home, offices? The musical score?
3. Audience response to the flowers, to the roses, beauty, colour, shapes, displays in the greenhouses, out in the fields, the entries in the competition? The cultivation of the roses over the seasons, Eve and her diary an indication of the development of the roses? The moods of the seasons, the young assistant overheating the greenhouse and destroying the blooms, the hailstorm?
4. The theme of creating the roses, seen at the competition, the entries, Eve and her hopes, the entrepreneur and his victory, successive victories? His running a business, the staff creating the roses, his taking the credit? The contrast with Eve, inheriting the business from her father, giving her life to it, no husband or children, ageing, the talent for hybridisation? Her explaining and illustrating the whole process from the bud, the seeds, the development of the flowers? Successes and failures?
5. Vera, devoted, the finances, loss of sales, the entrepreneur wanting to take over, or to have Eve work for him? Vera and her personality? Making contact with the employment agency? The three workers, Eve and the initial reaction, taking them on? Training them, but their observing her, working in the grounds?
6. The three workers and their personalities, the older man, in need of work, ethnic background, wanting a contract, yet still caught up in the flowers? The young girl, slow on the uptake, the incident with heating the greenhouse, her working in the fields, the experiments, tending the roses? Fred, his age, in prison, robbery and violence, many times, on parole, his background story, his parents abandoning him, yet his wanting contact, trying to find them, eventually going to meet his mother, her reaction, put him off, eventually his going to the house, speaking bluntly to his parents and leaving?
7. The entrepreneur, his special rose, Eve and her scheme, employing the workers, the plan to go in and steal the rose, the tensions, the melodrama, success, Fred and the two possibilities? Eve and her demonstrating the hybridisation?
8. The group, the contract, enjoying the work, learning more about roses? The financial issue, the decision to go out and sell the various pots of roses, in the market, the deals with the gamblers and drinkers taking roses home? At the cemetery, playing the music?
9. Finance, Vera and her hard work, the bank, borrowing money, finance from the sales, Vera’s contribution? The failure, Eve and her negotiations with the entrepreneur, having the documents ready, Eve beginning to sign them?
10. The young woman, finding the hybrid rose, hurrying to tell the others, to stop Eve selling?
11. The cultivation of the new rose, the support of the group, the competition, Eve’s speech?
12. Happy ending, and small in private enterprise versus corporatisation?