Rosalie Blum: film review

 

Yesterday, being another hot day, the air-conditioning of the cinema tempted me to see a film I’d heard about.

 

‘Rosalie Blum’ is a delightful French film. Having actors who appeared normal rather than super stars is one of the reasons I love French cinema. They appear so believable and make it easier for me to relate to the story.

 

This story is set in a village in France. It starts with the character, Vincent, who has friends, but lives a lonely life. His mother is a manipulating person and it takes time for him to finally stand up to her. He becomes obsessed with Rosalie Blum, another lonely person.

That sounds pretty straight forward, but it isn’t that simple.

Rather than give away the plot, I’d love to hear from others who may have seen this thought provoking film.

 

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/tempted/”>Tempted</a>

Kindness and colour:

Acacia, or wattle, as we know it.

Winter is gladdened by flowers. The yellow of the wattle lifts the spirits. It is said that there is a wattle flowering every day of the year, as there are so many varieties. This one reminds me of my childhood, wandering around the farm in the winter holidays.

Hardenbergia

The Hardenbergia violacae is often found near wattles and the opposite colours really zing on a winter’s day, especially the purple one, which is more common than the other colours.

A quote I read today will suit every season:

“Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realise you’re already in heaven now,’ Jack Kerouac wrote in a beautiful 1957 letter.”

 

Kindness:

The WordPress suggestion today is one I responded to before, so this time I shall tell you about the kindness of a special English teacher, Miss Street. Miss Street was a dedicated teacher and inspired me to have a pencil and paper by the bed, and a dictionary. As a consequence I’m constantly coming across words that either I’ve heard and not really understood, or are totally new. Reading constantly unfolds new ideas and words. I always remember this teacher when I write the words down.

Here are a just a few recent words:

Invoilably: that must not be violated, kept free from violence, or treated as if sacred.

Peripatetic: walking or travelling about, itinerant.

Malfeasance: the doing of an unlawful act.

Wordpost: The Kindness of Strangers, by Ben Huberman

When was the last time a stranger did something particularly kind, generous, or selfless for you? Tell us what happened!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-kindness-of-strangers/

Dear God:

Sometimes something arrives that I can not help sharing with you. This one brings the spirit of Christmas with a slight twist, and will hopefully make you smile.

There was a man who worked for the Post Office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses.

One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting to God with no actual address. He thought he should open it to see what it was about. The letter read

Dear God,

I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had £100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension payment.

Next Sunday is Christmas, and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope…

Can you please help me?

Sincerely, Edna

The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few pounds.

By the time he made the rounds, he had collected £96 which they put into an envelope and sent to the woman.

The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends.

Christmas came and went.

A few days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God.

All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened.

It read:

Dear God,

How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me?

Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift.

By the way, there was £4 missing………..

I think it might have been those bastards at the post office!!!

Sincerely, Edna

This story was sent by a friend by e-mail. I haven’t included all the photos, the story speaks for itself through pictures, until the end. Having written about kindness recently, I thought this one should get a mention. Sorry about the layout, I couldn’t get the punch line below the pictures….. Had to remove some of the pictures too as I couldn’t get them in sequence… sorry!

A German TOURIST JUMPED INTO THE FREEZING WATER AND SAVED MY PRECIOUS LITTLE DOG.
UPON GETTING BACK ONTO THE BRIDGE, HE CHECKED MY PUPPIE OUT AND TOLD ME,
“ZE DOG IS OK. HE VILL BE FINE.”
Due to his selfless heroic act, I ASKED, “ARE YOU A VET?”
HE REPLIED,

“VET? I’M FUCKING SOAKED!”

Kindness

When was the last time a stranger did something particularly kind, generous or selfless for you? Tell us what happened.

One event springs immediately to mind: I was at art school in my youth. To travel home on the bus or train was a full days journey. By car at that time it took five hours.

I don’t even remember who offered me the lift back to my home- town, but I gladly took it.    On the journey, it was at night, we stopped in the forest and I was asked to get out. The baby needed changing. This done, I climbed back into the car, not noticing that I’d dropped my purse onto the road.

Some time later, a letter arrived at my boy friend’s house, addressed to me as Mrs. (boyfriend’s surname). Luckily I had stuffed a bill into my purse to keep for my boyfriend, which had an address on it. They included their telephone number.

The outcome was that we drove over to this kind person’s house, next to the jail. I became all over come and unnecessary, and didn’t give them the $20 that was in the purse, nor the chocolate frog that was also nestling there. I was very grateful to get the purse back but didn’t show my gratitude. Something I will never be able to rectify as I’ve forgotten the name and address. If it was you, please accept my deepest thanks! I am so sorry I didn’t show my appreciation at the time.

Their act was thoughtful, very kind and deserved better!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-kindness-of-strangers/