Vive la Rose

Based on the last recording by one of Newfoundland's foremost traditional music performers, Emile Benoit's tender delivery of the 18th century French song is the heart of Vive la Rose. The story of unrequited love and tentative obsession throughout the beloved's life, sickness and early death is the narrative focus, accompanied by an emotional interpretation of Benoit's strong Newfoundland French accent and wavering old man's voice. Vive la Rose was shot out of doors and in an old fisherman's shack, rooting the film in a location that evokes the past, and combines oil paintings with painted text and a variety of evocative and practical objects.