“Rose”, the film tribute to Cédric Rosalen screened for the very first time at the Théâtre de Narbonne

1,600 people attended the two successive previews of the film “Rose” this Sunday, December 22 at the Théâtre de Narbonne. The entire film crew of this event film was there gathered for this presentation which allowed time for discussion at the end of my screening.

This feature-length documentary follows Julien Candelon who was, as he himself says, “game brother” by Cédric Rosalen. In a sort of pilgrimage, from Ouveillan to Narbonne, via Gruissan, Saint-André-de-Roquelongue and the cloudy valleys of Ariège, he searches, beyond the memories shared with missing friend, those of others, of those who knew him and the things that together, they did not have time to do.

Etienne Garcia will specify that he did not “wanted to make a film that tells how one becomes a top athlete, but a film about the soul“: he achieved his objective. The testimonies collected by Julien Candelon reconstruct the missing player, from childhood to adulthood. Everything is captured in true language where we feel that nothing is written in advance We discover or rediscover a humble man who loved winning, the leader of a team who also knew how to work without counting his time.a fucking gamer” will even confide the trainer Gonzalo Quesada in the privacy of an Ouveillan court.

The extended rugby family present in the room could only approve the words and the truth of the film which shows that the virility of this sport does not prevent emotion and that the contacts are not only rough. Julien Candelon, after the screening, confided that, when he was contacted by Etienne Garcia, he “didn't really feel legitimate, since his friendship with Cédric had been at a distance for several years.“It was after being validated by the family of No. 10, who died too soon, that he agreed to participate in the project and there”play your own role but in such a way that each spectator can be the character” which he embodied.

The end credits were accompanied, on the piano, live by Gabriel Garcia. The film will be broadcast in theaters in Aude from February 2025. Those who knew Cédric Rosalen will find him there, those who did not know him will be able to discover a process of mourning which consists of reliving what we have lived together and to do in his memory what we did not have time to live with the one whom death took from us.