MPAA Rating: R
Director: Jacques Audiard
There are a lot of moments in Rust and Bone, the new film from French director Jacques Audiard, that leave the viewer utterly dejected. These beautifully crafted and framed moments continue to beat down the viewer and the characters, themselves, over the course of the film’s 120 minute run time. Audiard does interject some small, glimmering moments of hope and redemption throughout, just enough to keep the film from feeling overwrought and heavy-handed. Rust and Bone showcases two brilliant and compelling performances – Marion Cotillard as Stéphanie, the Killer Whale trainer who loses both her legs during a performance and Matthias Schoenaerts as Ali, a single father and a brute of a man both physically and emotionally.
After Ali and his young son Sam (Armand Verdure) move in with his sister Anna (Corinne Masiero) and Foued (Mourad Frarema) in their little run-down apartment Ali finds himself employment at a nightclub called Annexe where he is the bouncer and eventually meets Stéphanie after she is apparently punched in the face during a scuffle which Ali helps break-up. He winds up giving her a ride home during which there is a nice little bit of foreshadowing when Ali notices smeared blood just above her knee. When they arrive at Stéphanie’s home, Ali comes in to get some ice for his injured hand foreshadowing Ali’s fate.
Ali is by turns a bouncer, night-watchman, an illegal surveillance installer and a bare-knuckle boxer competing in the underground fight world. He does it for the money, but more importantly because he wants to. He likes to fight, he likes the thrill of punching another man in face. He is in essence an animal, he becomes the substitute for the killer whales now absent in Stephanie’s life. Something she can put her energy and passion into, something she can train and try to understand. Ali fits the bill as well, just as unpredictable and dangerous with an underlying sense of heart and compassion.
Besides Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard’s performances the other standout is Audiard’s regular cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine‘s fantastic camerawork. The camera slows down at all the perfect times and numerous montages are turned into beautiful works of experimental art; especially the opening credits that foreshadow the hardships ahead. Where water exemplifies villain and tragedy but also redemption and solace.
Rust and Bone may not be as stellar as A Prophet but that comparison is unfair being Rust and Bone is based on the short story by Craig Davidson, while A Prophet was an original screenplay. The film is a bit of downer, a depressing film but Audiard does inject just the right amount of hope to keep it from being soul-crushing. Plus, the performances from Schoenaerts and Cotillard and Fontaine’s cinematography make Rust and Bone a must-see, if not one of the best films of the year.
