“When we were asked to play the scene where Rosetta loses her job, I just grabbed on to a table and refused to let go, yelling, ‘I want the job’.” I look on, startled, as she leaps up for an impromtu demonstration, undergoing a sudden, unnerving transformation.The Dardenne brothers have famously referred to Rosetta as “a warrior”. Judging by this performance, they must have been overjoyed to have found Dequenne. To my relief, she snaps out of character and sits down to light another fag.With the part in the bag, the real work began in earnest. The Dardennes are celebrated for their total immersion in a milieu, so what did the preparations actually involve? “The brothers really opened my eyes to another life,” Dequenne explains. “I spent a night in the caravan on the trailer park where Rosetta lives, which was absolutely freezing I went to work in a shop and was shocked by what I saw. People speak to you as if you’re shit.”I’d quizzed Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne about their methods the previous day.

“We made her learn every single gesture of Rosetta’s,” Luc explains. “Sometimes she’d cheat but we’d always spot it and say, ‘That’s Emilie, not Rosetta’.”After a month of preparation, the 56-day shoot began in the depths of a cruel Belgian winter “I became exhausted towards the end” admits Dequenne “It was cold and wet, the days were long I really felt the weight of responsibility on me. I had to drag myself out of bed each morning, constantly telling myself that everyone was relying on me, that I couldn’t let them down.”Dequenne’s exhaustion is palpable in certain scenes. When I mention this to the brothers, there’s more than a hint that they factored it into their calculations.

“The difficult conditions helped her because it meant her exhaustion became part of the role,” says Luc. “We did several takes of her carrying the gas canister at the end, and you can see she’s utterly weary.”Another scene where her tiredness is made to count is when Rosetta refuses to leave the baker’s when she’s sacked. “Emilie threw herself down on to the sack of flour out of fatigue. It wasn’t rehearsed but it worked, so we left it in,” explains Jean-Pierre.The Dardennes’ habit of repeated takes was an eyeopener for Dequenne.

“They are never happy; they always want something more,” she acknowledges. That could mean 15 or more takes, even the scene where she consumes beer and waffles at Riquet’s flat. She clutches her stomach and mimes queasiness at the memory.The film’s success at Cannes changed Dequenne’s life overnight. She’s a huge star in her native country now which she doesn’t plan to leave just yet. She has flown the family nest though and moved to Liÿge, to be closer to the Dardennes and to be part of the burgeoning Belgian film scene. “I want to prove that I didn’t play Rosetta by chance,” she says.

“My father always taught me that chance has to be worked on.”Time for Dequenne to be whisked off to do her q + a after the festival screening. I slip in at the back just in time to hear an audience member describe the film as depressing. Dequenne gives him short shrift, countering with an impassioned affirmation of Rosetta’s courage. It’s another enjoyably combative performance and that word, “warrior”, springs to mind once more.One of the pleasures of filmgoing in the coming years will surely be watching this plucky actress’ career blossom Up and at ‘em, Emilie! ’Rosetta’ is released today. Researchers say they have found a way to mate human cells with circuitry in a “bionic chip” that could play a key role in medicine and genetic engineering. Researchers say they have found a way to mate human cells with circuitry in a “bionic chip” that could play a key role in medicine and genetic engineering.
The tiny device – smaller and thinner than a strand of hair – combines a healthy human cell with an electronic circuitry chip. By controlling the chip with a computer, scientists say they can control the activity of the cell.The computer sends electrical impulses to the cell-chip, triggering the cell’s membrane pores to open and activating the cell.