NEWSMAKER

The occasion contrasted sharply with the bravura of Wednesday8217;s opening night gala. Where thousands had pressed against the crush barriers to catch a glimpse of the likes of John Travolta and Sigourney Weaver, fewer than a hundred curious bystanders watched as the film crew, with Rose carried in their midst, waited in the traditional manner to be the last to enter the palais.

Pale in the bright Mediterranean light, wearing a gold-coloured dress, Rose clung to Brumpton8217;s shoulder, her head lolling against his chest.Little bigger than a 10-year-old child, her bare feet dangling below her dress, Rose resembled nothing so much as an outsize Christmas tree fairy. At the head of the red-carpeted staircase Brumpton placed her in her wheelchair and she was led into the auditorium for the screening. Her performance in the role she had written for herself left critics gasping at the press showing a day earlier.

The film is a love story in which Julia, the character played by Rose, falls for a visiting stranger but sees him stolen by her sadistic carer. She uses all the means at her disposal to win back her man. Julia, like Rose, has been severely handicapped since birth, confined to a wheelchair and able to speak only through a voice machine. The film is billed as quot;by Heather Rosequot; and quot;directed by Rolf de Heerquot;, and de Heer8217;s direction is unobtrusive, placed entirely at the service of the screenplay.