"The Rose Maker"

3 years ago

I stumbled across this movie, which is about a struggling French rose breeder, on the streaming movie service offered by my local library. It was a charming movie, but frustrating because the people who made it must have known something about roses but didn't bother getting many of the details right. Annoying things I noticed:

1. The main character says that R. wichuraiana has never been hybridized!

2. She steals a rose called "The Lion" from a corporate breeder (maybe based on Meidiland?) that she states is very fragrant and bred by Pernet-Ducher in 1848! It looks like a modern yellow hybrid tea.

3. She plans on submitting a rose to Bagatelle a year after planting the seedling.

It was fun watching a movie about roses, however. I wonder if anyone else has watched it? Apologies if it's already been discussed here--the Houzz search didn't turn up anything. Here's a link to the IMDB page:

The Rose Maker

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Comments (5)

Ingrid_vc zone 9b, San Diego Co. inland
3 years ago
I'm afraid the three points you've made would ruin the movie for me. It's unfortunate they couldn't have had someone from the Antique Rose forum (Jeri?) as their rose consultant. If indeed they had one it was a waste of their money.
Embothrium
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Modern flowers and garden plants are routinely seen in period films. Potted or cut antique roses and other heritage flowers could of course be tracked down and brought to the set as needed, when anyone in charge of production was attuned to the value in this. However scenes being filmed on historic properties certainly aren't going to involve removal of existing plantings that would not have been present at the time the story is supposed to have taken place.
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jerijen
3 years ago
It was only in French. I don't speak French.
User
3 years ago
I saw that movie, and yes, the rose errors bugged me! I wish movie makers would be more careful about botanical accuracy. I mean, I know they call in science experts for movies, why not plant experts? (though of course I'm sure movies are riddled with science faux-pas too). Being accurate would not really be any harder, I don't think. Maybe HTs are more easy to come by, but if it's a historical movie, why not at least use something that could pass for an old rose, like an Austin or something, which wouldn't be that hard to find? It does kind of ruin it a bit for me. Same thing with musical inaccuracy - I once saw a movie that had a gamba player in it, and they had him bowing like a modern cello - but viol players bow underhanded! It just seems sloppy and careless to me, if they miss out on these details. Or I knew a writer, and in his book he mentioned tulips in bloom in late summer in the northeast! Why not dahlias or zinnias or any of the hundreds of other flowers that actually would be in bloom? Of course, I didn't say anything because he was a nice guy and the book was already published, but I do wish people would do their homework when it comes to plants!
Formerly RBEHS Z10A/S17
Original Author
3 years ago
A lot of movies/shows seem to be putting in anachronisms purposely now (I watched a show on Netflix where they did a modern dance routine in 19th Century Vienna, which was really jarring), but I agree that, when it comes to botanical stuff, it's just laziness/sloppiness/ignorance.