Autumn to me always says period drama season: it seems to usher in the Sunday night drama, even though they are available all year round, but I think it has something to do with the nights drawing in and the temperatures dropping. I’ve started my last couple of posts with this cosy fantasy… apparently I am really trying to manifest it.

There are lots of exciting things on screen right now and coming to our screens soon (and of course a whole back catalogue to get into – thank you PBS Masterpiece subscription!), and this originally started as my autumn “on my period drama radar” post, but then I started writing about the first film I wanted to list… and I couldn’t stop.

It’s fun, it’s fresh, and it plays with existing source material in just the best way possible.

Here’s my Rosaline movie review, an alternative and brilliant take on William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet.

Like many others, I studied Romeo and Juliet at school as a teenager and I fell in love with it hard (even though it left me quietly screaming at the text that Romeo did not wait a few extra seconds in order to make sure that Juliet was in fact dead, which of course heightens the tragedy). I’ve watched the Frank Zeffirelli 1966 movie on repeat (yes, I do like the Baz Luhrmann version, but my god, was I obsessed with Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting as a fourteen-year-old), and went to see Lily James and Richard Madden as the titular characters in Kenneth Branagh’s stage production in 2016.

I even wrote English coursework on it, and made reference to it when I later wrote a separate piece of work on “real” and “imagined” love in Pride and Prejudice and Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. (If you have been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I am a hopeless romantic…)

The real and imagined love, of course, referring to Romeo’s early infatuation with Rosaline, who never even becomes a proper character in Shakespeare’s play – she does not even make an appearance on stage, for that matter – as she is very, very quickly displaced by Juliet.

Not in this movie.

Well, sort of.

Directed by Karen Maine, and based on Rebecca Serle’s novel When You Were Mine, Rosaline offers a different tale of fair Verona and its famous star-crossed lovers, one in which Romeo’s forgotten-about first love interest (played by Kaitlyn Dever) takes centre stage and is a fantastic, funny and independent heroine.

The movie opens with Romeo (Kyle Allen) climbing a balcony, declaring his love. Yet, it isn’t for Juliet: it is for Rosaline, who stares at him adoringly as he utters beautiful poetic words to her. It turns out he is her secret boyfriend, for Romeo is a Montague, and Rosaline is a Capulet, and the two houses, though both alike in dignity, are dominated by their ancient grudge.

Outside of their secret affair, Rosaline’s father (Bradley Whitford) is trying to marry her off to an eligible suitor, whilst she desires to become a cartographer rather than a mother and a wife. (A particularly brilliant conversation between Rosaline and her father on this subject goes something like this: “Your mother had three children by your age!”; “But didn’t she want more?”; “Yes – that’s why we had you!”)

Enter Dario (Sean Teale), a handsome soldier, with whom Rosaline is made to go on a boat trip to appease her father. Said boat trip has disastrous results when they get trapped in a storm, causing Rosaline to miss the masquerade ball she invited Romeo to, where he – fatefully – runs into Juliet (Isabela Merced).

Juliet is Rosaline’s cousin, recently returned from school very much grown up, and when Rosaline discovers that she is the reason Romeo has effectively ghosted her, she sets to work trying to convince Juliet that Romeo is all words, and no substance. But of course, her attempts to tear the two star-crossed lovers apart go awry, and frequently throw her into the path of Dario – and the realisation Romeo might not be everything she imagined.

We’re in an era of retellings and re-imaginings: it is nothing new to play with source material (especially when said source material has been around since the late sixteenth century), but there has been a creative explosion in both film and literature grappling with well-loved and well-established characters, pulling out aspects of the original stories we might want to know more about. (See here for some of my favourite Jane Austen retellings.) This isn’t the first film to deal with Rosaline’s lack of appearance in the original play, but I love what writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have done with Rosaline’s role.

Kaitlyn Dever is sharp, witty and compelling, and it is a genuinely entertaining and funny film that gives a previously unseen character a fulfilling role. She is a modern heroine, with the movie incorporating contemporary music and turns of phrase, but beautifully costumed in Renaissance clothes and surrounded by beautiful sets serving as Verona. It works well together, heightening the comedic drama of the plot.

Other characters that shine besides Rosaline are Count Paris and Nurse Janet: the former, played by Spencer Stevenson, is reimagined as a fun and kind gay man who is actually close friends with Rosaline, and the latter a hilarious and sarcastic turn from Minnie Driver who has to repeatedly remind everyone that her name isn’t just Nurse, she actually is a registered Nurse and worked hard to be one.

So, if you are in the mood for a genuinely witty romantic comedy with a historical bent that is led by its female characters, Rosaline is definitely the film for you. You can find it on Hulu in the US, and Disney+ elsewhere.

Cover image: Tapestry, “The Lovers”, 1490/1500 from the Art Institute of Chicago, CC0.