Madame Rosa (Hulu)
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We recently reviewed the 1975 Italian film “The Life Ahead”, based on a French novel. There actually was a 1977 French movie based on the same book titled Madame Rosa. It stars Simone Signoret and has a similar plot. This version provides a more detailed story line about the young man who is taken under the wing of the aging woman who was once a prostitute and now cares for children of prostitutes. It costars Samy Ben-Youb as Momo who appears to be maybe 13 or 14 (a couple of years older than the boy in the Italian version.) The film is hampered by the subtitles at times being more difficult to read and the technical quality of the film projection was poor. While we favor the Italian version, it is quite interesting to compare two films and observe the outstanding acting of another great actress. The French version did win the Foreign Film Award in the 1978 Oscars.