REVIEW

DIRECTOR: Jacques Audiard

STARRING: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure

RATING: 7.5/10

Jacques AudiardÔÇÖs newest film Rust and Bone leaves behind the male dominated worlds of his last two triumphs, The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet (2009), to concentrate on a more sensitive, and nearly melodramatic account of a newly disabled female main character.

The film follows a touching romance, between St├®phanie (Cotillard), a trainer of killer whales recovering from an┬áaccident at the amusement park where she works, and Ali (Schoenaerts), a bouncer and bare knuckle fighter who moves to┬áAntibes when put in full charge of his young son (Verdure).

This is a demanding experience for some viewers, considering the outright brutishness and carelessness of the lead male role and the gruelling reality of the leading ladyÔÇÖs character, Rust and Bone does offer true character growth and a sincerely enticing plot. Both Cotillard and Schoenaerts are devastatingly brilliant, with Cotillard shining brightest throughout. The product of both their excellent performances is an exasperating yet utterly absorbing romance, depicting poverty, sex and violence in bizarre yet moving circumstances.

Ultimately the film surfaces as a study of human frailty and strength, with the divergence of AudiardÔÇÖs storytelling and stunning visual approach reinforcing this duality, the routine tendency toward the former and the unexpected assertions of the latter. Rust and Bone is proof of AudiardÔÇÖs intrepid artistry and aims to move its audiences with exaggerated, sometimes Hollywoodesque scenarios, and succeeds in doing so as much as, if not more than his previous works.

Dylan Jenkins