Jacques Audiard has fast become one of Europe’s most prominent filmmakers with his previous two features: The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet. His latest film, Rust and Bone, will surely further boost his reputation and gain the director a wider audience with its crowd pleasing love story starring Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard.
The film opens in a style reminiscent of a Dardenne social drama when we’re introduced to Ali, an unemployed ex-boxer, with his five-year-old son in tow, fleeing Belgium for the French Riviera, where he moves in with a sister he hasn’t seen for years. After finding employment as a bouncer at a local nightclub, he has a chance encounter with Stephanie, a whale trainer. After this brief encounter Stephanie loses her legs in a horrific accident at work and the film turns away from its gritty social drama beginnings and becomes a fey and ridiculous love story hinged on the relationship between the two leading characters.
After the accident Ali and Stephanie strike up an unlikely relationship. This is where my problem with the film lies. Rust and Bone becomes forced and overly sentimental in its depiction of the opposing nature of the characters sensibilities. Ali is predictably brutish and Stephanie is predictably frail and it is these characteristics that bring them together. The film is about damaged humans and the animalistic nature of human behaviour but is too predictable and simplistic in its execution to be convincing.
Besides the gimmicky and rather conventional telling of its story, Rust and Bone boasts some beautiful cinematography and outstanding special effects. The scene where Cotillard’s Stephanie swims for the first time after becoming an amputee is a breathtaking example of both the beauty of the films cinematography and its seamless use of special effects. Unfortunately, the visual beauty of the film isn’t enough to elevate the film above its conventional and predictable storyline. By the end the film just feels too fey and insubstantial.
Shane James
Rating:15
BD/DVD Release Date:25th February 2013 (UK)
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure
Buy Rust&Bone: Blu-ray
/ DVD
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