Currently competing at the Cannes Film Festival, Rust and Bone was released this week in theaters: an intense blend of emotions driven by the duo of Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard.
The release of a new film by Jacques Audiard is always an event, and when Marion Cotillard is part of it, anticipation inevitably builds. Interestingly, Marion Cotillard was not allowed to shoot another film during the production of Christopher Nolan’s latest Batman (set for release this summer). Yet, she shines in Rust and Bone.
This film is about the encounter between Ali, an absent and awkward father, homeless and moving in with his sister in Antibes, and Stéphanie, an orca trainer recently left disabled. Two worlds collide, two beings discover each other, two souls assist one another without compassion, without pity, utilizing Ali’s raw strength to pull Stéphanie from the darkness surrounding her.
Rust and Bone brings together Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts (Bullhead) as well as Corinne Masiero (Louise Wimmer) and Armand Verdure. The actors are superb: Matthias Schoenaerts displays power, rawness, all muscle, a sort of superhuman strength whose incredible physique offers a fascinating protection. Marion Cotillard is magnificent, impressive, her gaze extinguished, pale, moving, so beautiful that every time she appeared on screen, it moved me to tears.
A phone call in the middle of the night brings Stéphanie and Ali together, simply. Their meeting is truly touching while being incredibly natural and sincere.
Jacques Audiard’s direction is sublime, the lighting mastered, each shot seems composed with meticulous care as the framing is so well-crafted. You don’t just see the elements, you feel them, you’re there, it’s real. The cinematography is superb, from the sea to the snow, to the ice that from the first moment appears dangerous and reveals, in the drama, Ali’s fragility.
This latest film by Jacques Audiard is incredibly complex as it stirs so many different emotions.
It’s both gentle and rough, powerful and fragile, the free fight scenes exude heightened animality, and the love scenes between Ali and Stéphanie are very beautiful and delicate. You feel carried by Stéphanie’s rebirth, her first moments in the water, her gaze lighting up once again. You could cry, but it’s so much more than that, so much more than a filmed drama, something more intense, it’s raw yet discreet, intense, poignant, sublime and sometimes humorous. The music aligns with the narrative in a stunning way, enhancing and completing the imagery. It’s dynamic, a melodrama that isn’t tearful, luminous; there’s real emotion, the kind that hurts as much as it mesmerizes.
