ROSEBUSH PRUNING is mostly set in the opulent Spanish estate of a filthy rich US family. The family’s financial resources have been boundless since the death of their mother and every wish that a family member could have can be immediately fulfilled. Ed (Callum Turner) assures us, however, that wealth hasn’t change them. They were always superficial and materialistic. Ed himself, for example, is proud of not reading or writing and is only interested in fashion labels and confusing his environment with his own made up (and meaningless) sayings. His siblings are similarly self-involved and above all of them is the blind patriarch (Tracy Letts), whose turpitude takes a bit longer to show itself. The secret center of the family is the eldest son Jack (Jamie Bell). It seems as though pretty much all of the characters in the film are in love with him in some way or another, and he is also the only one with the ambition to move out of the estate and start his own life with his girlfriend (Elle Fanning). And there’s also a secret...

ROSEBUSH PRUNING situates itself somewhere between an ancient Greek tragedy, the novels of Bret Easton Ellis, and Emerald Fennell’s SALTBURN. The characters are wonderfully depraved, sound and image is oversaturated, and the escalating drama of the plot rises to the level of grotesque comedy. Essentially a remake of Marco Bellocchio's FISTS IN THE POCKET (1965), the adaptation by screenwriter Efthimis Filippou (co-writer of ALPS, THE LOBSTER, CHEVALIER) and director Karim Aïnouz (MOTEL DESTINO) is a satire that one hopes does not yet reflect the reality of life for the super-rich.

Christian Klose

Translation: Elinor Lewy