Film #96 of The December Project

I've watched a lot of amazing films in 2012, but none have rendered me completely helpless by the sheer force of its brilliance like Rust and Bone. At times, this film is viscerally violent and in your face, at others it is gently detached. It's a testament to this film's power that it can bring out the strongest of emotions with a single human gesture. There is a great story worth telling here, but the telling of it is where it really shines. Audiard demonstrates his considerable talent, as he's able to show restraint at the right moments and let the film soar to unfathomable heights at others.

Ali is a twenty-something MMA-style fighting…

At this point I should just give up guessing at what Jacques Audiard may be up to with his films. Whatever my expectations are, he's almost certainly going to subvert them. I went into A Prophet anticipating a hard-boiled prison/gangster movie, and what I got was a poetic mishmash of violence and spirituality concerning the Darwinian struggle of the French immigrant class (oh, and I also got one of my favorite movies of the last several years). With his new film Rust and Bone, I had expected something along the lines of "Marion Cotillard loses her legs but the the dude from Bullhead helps her find her heart." What I got was... wait, what did I get exactly? Certainly nothing…

Rust and Bone comes with lofty expectations, expectations the film struggles to match. Directed by Jacques Audiard, the man responsible for the mesmerising A Prophet, and backed by near unanimous critical praise, I had high hopes for the film yet it is a piece of work that feels in constant conflict with itself. The story revolves around two damaged people, one a poor single father who competes in brutal illegal street fights, and the other an orca trainer who loses both her legs in a freak accident. Frankly the synopsis sounds like a clumsy amalgamation of TV movie of the week style disability porn and Rocky on the Côte d'Azur, it doesn’t sound like the sort of thing one of…

All this time we spend telling stories about, and hoping to be, heroes, and it’s easy to lose sight of how powerful we are just being alive. How the bravest are not always knights, how often they don’t know who they are.

How sometimes, they’re an unemployed father with more testosterone than paternal instincts, or an intoxicated girl in a club teasing men for validation. They’re Ali and Stéphanie, and they’re not perfect. Sometimes, they're not even good. Sometimes, Ali gets a little aggressive with his son, and Stéphanie takes a lot more than she gives. But one day, a severe accident takes both her legs from her. One day, his son’s mother makes her exit and he is left…

Let's get this straight: A whale trainer losers her legs in a work related accident and falls for an amateur kick-boxer; cue Katy Perry's 'Firework' et voila! - Not as ludicrous as it sounds.

Jacques Audiard follows up his highly (and rightfully) praised 2009 'A Prophet' with a premise that seem startlingly out of left field, yet this is quite a thoughtful, provocative and poetic character study that whilst a little messy, has a raw and romantic naturalism that dares you to be moved.

Marion Cotillard delivers a brave and sexual performance as she attempts to courageously rebuild her life after losing both legs, but equally impressive is Matthias Schoenaerts, a tortured soul that has not the maturity nor responsibility…

Jacques Audiard is a master of the craft of filmmaking. Period.

His movies use music in a riveting and unexpected way. His plots make unexpected turns, and offer typical points in a new way. There is a true magic at play. If there are "acts" to his films, it is almost impossible to sense them because scene after scene seems like a natural flow from before. His use of the camera, and understanding of film grammar, is the mark of a true artist. He is able to bring a brutal yet beautiful truth out of his settings and characters. He is able to fill an audience with tension amidst feelings of inspiration.

I should first say that I expected of…

Usually I have an automatic response, good or bad, to a film, but I had to take some time to think about this one. I've decided that I was a little bit underwhelmed by it.
I can't fault the performances, Marion Cotillard is brilliant as the broken and subsequently unbroken Stephanie and Matthias Schoenaerts excels as the brutish and seemingly uncaring Ali. However, I can't help feel the story doesn't quite come together as well as it could have.

For one, Ali is extremely unlikable. He's selfish and mean and is really only nice to Stephanie, and even that comes and goes.
I understand that it was these traits in him that helped bring Stephanie back to her old self,…

A film that could have done a lot more to be manipulative to its audience, but mostly just tries to show an extremely unlikely and unique relationship forming. Really, the second encounter between Ali and Stephanie is is the weakest part of the film, but it's also kind of why the rest of the film works.

This was the first francophone film I've seen Marion Cotillard in, and I was a bit disappointed that her voice is not as enchanting in french as it is in english. But that's not a knock on the movie in any way. Her acting is top-notch per usual, especially the scene in which she wakes up to see her legs gone, something that I…

Sometimes a film can never measure up the quality of its parts. That is the case with Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard's follow-up to the brilliant A Prophet. Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts deliver superb performances. Cotillard is more subtle and reserved as she deals with her paraplegic state, while Schoenaerts moves through each scene with a volatile intensity. Though the leads possess an undeniable chemistry, the film as a whole never gels the way it should given the caliber of cast and crew. Cotillard's Stephanie should be the focus, but the story mainly sticks with Schoenaerts' Alain being a poor father. The intriguing aspect of the character is how he continually makes mistakes as a parent, yet meshes well…