Le roman de Rose

This was amongst the first of the films made for Invicta in Portugal by the French director Georges Pallu (for more on the Invicta story and the various French directors who made films in Portugal at this time see my reviews of Mulheres de Beira, Os Lobos and Os Faroleiros) and it is based on a popular romance. It enjoyed a considerable success and even led to the Portuguese President conferring the honorary title of Knight of the Order of Christ on the very Catholic Pallu. But it is really not one of the best films that were made at this time (no comparison with the three other films mentioned above).

It is the tale of a country girl who falls victim to a playboy and is, it would seem, abandoned by him...except there is a twist, even a double or triple twist at the end. It remains however bog-standard melodrama.

Later Pallu (and the others) would turn to the works of Portuguese realistic fiction (by such writers as Abel Botelho and Eça de Queirós) with much more interesting results.