There are several things that attracted me to “Rust and Bone” but nothing more than seeing Marion Cotillard take on another challenging role. To me, Cotillard is one of the best female actresses working today and she has never shied away from a difficult or demanding performance. That’s certainly the case in “Rust and Bone”, a French language picture from director Jacques Audiard. Audiard’s last directed film was 2009’s “A Prophet” so I expected this to be a bit gritty. But in the end it was his grittiness and edginess that kept me from absolutely loving this movie.
Now don’t misunderstand me, I do like “Rust and Bone”. There’s such a harsh reality to Audiard and co-writer Thomas Bidegain’s script and the incredibly committed performances are essential to bringing us into the fragile and stained worlds of Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) and Stéphanie (Cotillard). But as in real life, there are some things I don’t need to see over and over again and I felt Audiard’s desire to be edgy sometimes took away from the much better story at the heart of “Rust and Bone”.
The story revolves around two struggling people whose lives cross paths. We first see Alain as a single father with no money or home. He and his son Sam (Armand Verdure) end up crashing at his sisters house in a poor part of Antibes, France. He moves from one low-paying job to another while still holding out hope of reviving his kickboxing career. While working as a bouncer at a nightclub he has a brief encounter with Stéphanie. She works with killer whales at a Sea World type tourist park. Later during a performance there is a terrible accident which leaves Stéphanie as a double amputee. With her lower legs gone, she sinks into a world of deep depression. She reconnects with Alain and the two begin a peculiar relationship centered around two different sets of needs.
“Rust and Bone” rarely offers the audience an opportunity to smile. It deals with tough issues and never adds an ounce of sugarcoating or melodrama. When it uses this approach to advance the plot the film is very effective. And that’s not to say the movie lacks heart. There are a few scenes that do lift your spirits and they drive you to root for these characters and their individual transformations. You find your self invested in Alain and Stéphanie even if you don’t particularly like them all the time. This is in large part due to the performances from Cotillard and Schoenaerts. There isn’t one bit of insincerity in these performances and you’ll never doubt them for a second. Cotillard continues to amaze me with her subtlety and ability to express genuine emotion through her expressions. Here she gives an intense yet grounded performance. The only distraction from the actor’s work comes from the movie’s persistent focus on the edgier part of their relationship. For me, Audiard goes to the proverbial well one too many times.
I also have to mention the insanely good CGI work and visual trickery used to make Cotillard look as if she has no legs. If you weren’t familiar with the actress you would never know otherwise. It’s that convincing. Of course I don’t have to explain how essential that is to making the story work. Much of the film deals with her struggling and dealing with her handicap and I was amazed at how visually impressive it looked.
“Rust and Bone” could be called an unconventional love story but that’s cutting it short. There’s so much more going on in this film and most of it works great. There’s some fantastic technique at work behind the camera and the performances are brilliant. But my overall experience with the film was brought down a bit by some pointless content that wasn’t just distracting but that caused things to drag a bit. A tighter script and a broader focus could have made this good film even better. Nevertheless there is some solid storytelling here and the raw emotion that it leaves you with says a lot about the movie.
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Nice review Keith. I really enjoyed Rust & Bone but it did just feel as if there was something lacking from it. I thought Stephanie’s story was the most interesting but the story seemed to focus slightly more on Alain. I also didn’t like the ending in which it seemed to wrap everything up perfectly. Considering the gritty nature of the film, the ending seemed a little too sugarcoated.
Oh I agree. I was much more interested in Stephanie’s story. I preferred the scenes where Alain was brought into her world over when she was drawn into his. And Cotillard was just brilliant.
Nice write up, I really enjoyed Rust and Bone last year. I rated it amongst the very best of the year in fact.
Cotillard is stunningly good here – it’s unbelievable that she wasn’t nominated for an oscar in my opinion!
Oh I agree about Cotillard. She got a Golden Globe nomination but nothing from Oscar. That was definitely a shame.
I hope to get this on DVD soon. I really like Cotillard so I’m really interested in seeing this. Nice review.
Thanks man! I’m like you. I love Cotillard. In fact shell be appearing on a Phenomenal 5 in the near future.
Looking forward to seeing this – I loved his last two films. Enjoyed the review.
Thanks! I appreciate you checking it out.
Good review Keith. Cotillard was the shining star for me in this movie and always kept me watching. The rest of the movie isn’t perfect, but it’s message is there and it’s a nice tale to watch if you can get by all the darkness.
Agreed. Cotillard is the star. The kickboxing, etc. It didn’t blow me away.
Great review. All the “grittiness” wasn’t a problem for me. I loved this movie and it’s probably my top pick for 2012. Agree on the visual FX! Top-notch work.
I don’t mind “gritty” but it seems some of it was unnecessary. But it really had its share of strong moments.
Definitely. That scene where Marion’s character starts practicing her routine for the first time after the accident is pretty powerful.
Oh absolutely! My wife and I singled out that scene when we were talking about the film after seeing it. Brilliant!
I agree about the CGI it was incredible. That’s the best kind of CGI for me, the one that blends in the movie and creates complete illusion. I liked the film and Marion’s work but Stephanie’s story made me sad – she would never look at that guy before losing her legs, but then after he accident she settled for him. I really didn’t like Ali character.
Wow that’s a great perspective that I completely overlooked! You’re right, she completely brushed him off when he dropped her off from the nightclub but when she was all alone with no one else, she calls him. Good stuff!
3.5 is probably the lowest score I’ve seen for this. Still, I appreciate your honesty here. I should be getting around to it soon.
I liked it quite a bit but it seems not as much as most. But it’s interesting, I’ve heard several gripes about the movie that I share yet that doesn’t seem to hurt its rating with folks. I guess it’s ‘the good outweighs the bad’ kinda thing for them. Anyway, definitely a film worth seeing.
Great review! I’ve not seen this yet – you gave it quite a low score compared to other reviews – i’ll have to check it out to see where I stand with this one!
I just saw this the other day and I have to agree. There were some amazing performances by the leads but for me anyway the story lacked the emotional impact I expected it to have. I thought Cotillard was great but I continue to be impressed with Schoenaerts. He brings a fierceness to role that is palpable. If you haven’t seen the oscar nominated short that he did called Death of a Shadow I highly recommend checking it out.
Hey thanks for recommending the short and for checking out my review. The performances are what drive this movie and I did find it had some heart. But it kept me at a distance which I didn’t expect. Good movie but not great as I had hoped.
Great review Keith! Sounds like a heart-wrenching film here, I will give it a rent at some point.
Thanks Ruth! It has a lot going for it. I was a bit pushed away due to some of the content but when the story is focused it’s quite stirring. Really anxious to hear your thoughts on it.
Yet another one I need to see. I keep seeing bad things about it so I’ve pushed it to the bottom of the list.
It’s worth a watch for sure. There’s a lot there that really works. I just wish it was a bit more focused.