Rosaline film review: The Hulu film is abrupt and seems tokenistic, but is refreshing

Karen Maine’s Rosaline premiered on Hulu on Friday, October 14, 2022. The film is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from the perspective of Rosaline Capulet aka Romeo’s ex-lover. Although the perspective is refreshing, it is hard to tell exactly what Maine is aiming to achieve with its latest rendition.

The movie does little to establish the protagonist as anyone else other than a stubborn young girl who detests arranged marriages. Although she is a cartographer, the film does little to explore her talents as one. While the background and time period during which Romeo and Juliet are set could contribute to her restrictions, the film still comes off as tokenistic.

All the film does is depict a stubborn, arrogant, yet witty girl born in the safety net of her father’s status, hence, the attitude.

Based on Rebecca Serle’s book When You Were Mine, the movie features a cast of Kaitlyn Dever as the titular character, Kyle Allen as Romeo, Isabela Merced as Juliet, Sean Teale as Dario, Minnie Driver as Janet the Nurse, Bradley Whitford as Friar Laurence, Spencer Stevenson as Paris, Christopher McDonald as Lord Capulet, Nicholas Rowe as Lord Montague, Nico Hiraga as Steve the Courier, and Alistair Toovey as Tybalt.

Rosaline film review: An abrupt film that scoffs at the absurdities of the Shakespearean tragedy as well as social norms

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Rosaline seems to be similar to the story of Edwina Sharma and Kate Sharma from Bridgerton season 2 set in Shakespearean Italy. The film began with the famous balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet, wherein Romeo climbed up the Capulet orchard to meet his lover, Juliet. In this case, he climbs the same to meet Rosaline.

Born into the Capulet family, Juliet’s cousin Rosaline is un-ladylike barring her attire. She is the only maiden of her age who intended to be a cartographer, is a book lover, and hangs the uniform expression of “what the hell are you talking about?” throughout the film.

An outcast is what the protagonist is. She roamed the city with her friend Paris, who is gay, and wished to travel the world with the one she loved. But things did not turn out as per her plan.

An off-putting moment arrived when Romeo and Rosaline made castles in the air, and the former said that when they lived together, the latter could look after the children and take care of the house while he would be away writing sonnets.

His ladylove’s reaction: “While you’re off writing verses, I’m home changing diapers?”

A valid question but without a background. Shakespeare’s Rosaline was a prop for Romeo and Juliet to cross each other’s paths. She did not reciprocate Romeo’s love, which sent him looking for it elsewhere, because she wished to remain chaste.

What is the motivation behind the latest Rosaline the Rebel? A past that made her who she is because the mother was absent, or just the fact that her retelling came timely in the 21st century?

Even Kate Sharma’s character in season 2 of Bridgerton had a stronger arc in terms of context. She was born to Indian parents in colonial India, and lost both. An orphan Kate was taken in by her step-mother, while her step-sister became her world. An over-protective Kate was straightforward and a no-nonsense person because she dealt with the real world.

What did Rosaline do? Nothing. While the difference in the time period between Bridgerton and the Hulu film is logical, their nature as fictional characters who can be twisted and tweaked cannot be overlooked either.

Thus, a silent response instead of the expected "I love you, too," took Romeo away from Rosaline.

What followed was a 96-minute-long visual polarization of the archaic from the modern. The film employed language as one of the biggest and funniest ways to create the distinction.

While poetic English was relegated to characters (like Romeo himself) who were overwhelmed with traditions and the norms of society, the representatives of the forward and progressive movement resorted to a loose American English.

This was refreshing to watch.

Rosaline’s father said,

“You are a woman. You are not supposed to talk about what you want.”

Janet the Nurse, on the other hand, referred to the protagonist as a chicken, perhaps as a term for endearment. Steve the Courier used the lingo of “What up” and “pops” instead of the typical English greetings.

Although certain exchanges between Rosaline and Dario made for a hilarious watch, this review admits to being unable to go beyond the sarcastic exchanges between Kate Sharma and Anthony Bridgerton in the Netflix series.

However progressive this latest comedic retelling of the Shakespearean tragedy tried to be, it ended up being a hopeless romantic film just like most other romantic comedies. But the question arose: Has love got anything to do with rationality?

Although the film did not answer it clearly, Dario’s words “It (love) isn’t rational” explained the film’s sentiment and inclination.

Some redeeming qualities of the film include references, although scant, to female sexuality, independence, and identity. The conclusion between Romeo and Juliet is hilarious and is undoubtedly the highlight of an otherwise abrupt film. All in all, it is just another wannabe-progressive film with hardly any effort put after it.

The performances are adequate, and even theatrical at certain points. But it could be intentional to explain the difference between traditional and modern. A longer film with more on the titular heroine could, perhaps, have done justice to the efforts of the retelling.

Rosaline is currently streaming on Hulu.