On the formal strategy of the Dardenne brothers in Rosetta (1999) and what it demands.

Rosetta won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1999 and produced, in Belgium, legislation known as the Rosetta Plan that extended employment rights to young workers — an instance of a film having direct legislative consequence.

The film follows Rosetta, a teenager trying to keep a job she is about to lose, with a handheld camera that stays close to her body — usually focused on her face, her back, her hands — for its entire runtime.

The Dardennes' formal choice here is the most aggressive version of their method: the camera is so close and so persistent that the viewer is denied any position from which to observe Rosetta from outside. You are behind her when she runs. You are watching her face when she works. You cannot see what she sees without her body blocking the view.

This physical closeness creates a specific ethical relationship between viewer and subject. You cannot view Rosetta as a case study or a social type. You are in her situation with her, and the question her situation raises — what do you do when every system has failed you? — cannot be answered from a comfortable distance.