Rosebush Pruning Film Review

Rosebush Pruning is a perfect example of style over substance; the story is overbearing in ambition but settles for shock value over developed ideas.

The film centers around an incredibly wealthy family living in their late mother’s Spanish mansion, whose family bonds quickly shatter when dark secrets are revealed and one conniving sibling takes matters into his own hands.

Rosebush Pruning comes from Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, best known for his previous work on projects including Firebrand and Motel Destino. Much like his latest offering, these films have one thing in common: a desire to shock the audience at every turn and grip them with unexpected and bold narrative turns. However, Rosebush Pruning cements the fact that shock value loses its potency when all the audience comes to expect is the shock itself.

It feels like every character has a secret in Rosebush Pruning, whether that’s Callum Turner’s protagonist and his ulterior schemes to break the family apart, or Tracy Letts’ blind patriarch who manipulates the family dynamic from the shadows. The siblings all have their own demons too: a psycho-sexual frustration between siblings, an absent mother who may or may not be deceased, and the arrival of a new partner who doesn’t quite fit their twisted perception of normality.

And yet, these bold conversation-starting moments feel painfully watered-down as it becomes clearer and clearer that Rosebush Pruning is solely relying on them to push the narrative forward. There’s no character development, very little plot progression until the final act, and no greater message to the story beyond “rich people are out-of-touch”. 

With its dark sexual undertones, toxic character dynamics, and attempts at social commentary about the ultra-rich, Rosebush Pruning feels like a mismatched cross between Saltburn and Succession – without the bite that makes either of those projects so memorable. There is admittedly one specific scene in Aïnouz’ film that feels infinitely more disturbing than any of Emerald Fennell’s controversial moments in Saltburn, but even that feels lacking in impact because it becomes mostly irrelevant once the scene has passed. The film dedicates so much time to coming across as transgressive but ultimately feels quite derivative and shallow.

That being said, there’s still enough pure entertainment and mindless pleasure to be found in Rosebush Pruning that it’s never a boring watch. The plot moves at such a rapid pace, which one could argue is detrimental to its overall quality but it surely makes the film a breezy watch, and one that audiences can immerse themselves in without too much trouble.

The performances are also great for the most part, with Jamie Bell and Elle Fanning standing out as the clear highlights. Bell’s character is positioned as the most reasonable and least selfish of his siblings, and despite some character flaws that contribute to the film’s overall criticism of the ultra-elite, he’s an excellent mouthpiece for viewers to see the logic behind Rosebush Pruning’s intense and messy plot. Callum Turner also turns in a strong performance, but he feels oddly miscast in the lead role; one minute he’s suave and charming, the next he’s lurking in shadows causing subtle mayhem and mischief. He plays both sides of the character well, but the film is never quite sure how to get the best out of his performance. Somebody like Josh O’Connor, who was originally attached to the role before dropping out, would seemingly have been a more natural fit.

Overall, Rosebush Pruning is a film that’s deeply entertaining but feels like it’s constantly tripping over itself with its attempts to be subversive and shocking without giving any of the narrative effort needed to actually achieve this. Many of its most outrageous moments unfortunately fall flat due to its shallow screenplay, leaving the finishing product feeling like a fun story that’s stretched itself too thin and become a fairly disappointing one.

Rosebush Pruning premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 14-22, 2026. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews and our list of 20 films to watch at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival!