Movie Info
A struggling single father helps a beautiful whale trainer recover her will to live following a terrible accident that leaves her confined to a wheelchair. Lonely and destitute, Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) leaves the north of France for his sister's house in Antibes after becoming the sole guardian of his estranged five-year-old son Sam. When Ali lands a job as a bouncer in a nearby nightclub, things quickly start to look up for the itinerant father and son. Then one night, after breaking up a ... More
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All Critics (152) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (125) | Rotten (27)
The movie wanders off course in the final act, as if none of its three screenwriters could quite figure out how to end it.
January 11, 2013Full Review
Top Critic
"Rust" has some lovely scenes - Alain carrying Stephanie out to the sea - but it seems to wander off in search of something it already has, and in wandering, it loses its way.
January 11, 2013Full Review
"Rust and Bone" seems to wander unexpectedly into its heart; it feels organic in its casual unfolding, like life itself.
January 10, 2013Full Review
You couldn't ask for a more random relationship, but "Rust and Bone" slowly, almost magically, gives it meaning, symbolism, even a kind of symmetry.
January 10, 2013Full Review
The masterful writer-director Jacques Audiard draws vivid performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts for this gripping French romance about the body and the soul.
January 3, 2013Full Review
When Rust and Bone tells a story of a woman's recovery from a devastating injury, it hits all the right notes, traveling a path that is poignant without being mawkish and triumphant without being saccharine.
January 1, 2013Full Review
Rust and Bone is a tough, emotionally raw movie, but its not a difficult watch, and its a very skillfully rendered piece of neo-realism.
April 15, 2013Full Review
Scene-Stealers.com
The notion of strings-free sex gets a good working over from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet), who takes as much pride in exploring the workings of Stephanie's troubled mind as he does in digitally removing her legs.
April 12, 2013Full Review
3AW
The film achieves what all dramatic films should strive for: complete audience empathy for the main characters. I cared for these two so deeply, and the many, many moments of quiet triumph gave me rushes of joy. A beautiful triumph of precision.
April 2, 2013Full Review
ABC Radio (Australia)
Rust and Bone is an unsentimentally lyrical triumph, unexpected in every way.
March 31, 2013Full Review
Concrete Playground
For a film that deals in different forms of agony it's rather pleasant. A portrait of family that's refreshing with the right emotional punch.
March 28, 2013Full Review
The Popcorn Junkie
This multi-layered film with its characters tossed like flotsam on fate's giant, unpredictable waves drenches us in the intimate details of characters
March 22, 2013Full Review
Urban Cinefile
Two damaged souls find solace together in this gritty drama in which physical pain and disfigurement play a key role ... a stunningly delivered exposition
March 22, 2013Full Review
Urban Cinefile
Audiard crafts a film with logical scenic construction yet surprising turns of events, with the drama never devolving into melodrama.
March 15, 2013Full Review
Movie Metropolis
Rather like a persuasive pick-up artist, I'm not sure Rust & Bone is a film I'd want to spend a second night with, for fear of shattering the emotional illusion.
March 4, 2013Full Review
Film4
A 'Salt of the Earth' saga plumbing the depths of the human soul.
March 3, 2013Full Review
AALBC.com
Through restraint, French director Jacques Audiard does a better job of tugging on viewers' hearts than most filmmakers can achieve with excess.
February 1, 2013Full Review
KC Active
Filmmaking this self-indulgent screams "refund" in any language.
January 23, 2013Full Review
Film Threat
In 'Rust and Bone,' Marion Cotillard loses both legs but retains her hotness. This might seem like an inappropriate observation, but it's very much to the point of this very physical French romance of redemptive suffering from director Jacques Audiard.
January 22, 2013Full Review
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
This is a very different film to Audiard's most recent release - the impressive A Prophet - but it has a similar sense of maturity about it, and could well have acting awards aplenty heading its way in the coming months.
January 20, 2013Full Review
Fan The Fire
The strength of director Jacques Audiard's film is that he refuses to elicit pity from the audience for his protagonists.
January 19, 2013Full Review
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
Like a carnival barker or presidential candidate, Rust and Bone promises far more than it delivers.
January 19, 2013Full Review
Creative Loafing
Though Stéphanie's legs are removed from sight through the wonders of digital film effects, the character will remain in your consciousness like a phantom limb.
January 18, 2013Full Review
Austin Chronicle
Marion Cotillard impresses in this intimate, harsh and realistic study of two troubled souls.
January 18, 2013Full Review
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Audience Reviews for Rust and Bone
... more The French film Rust and Bone's U.S. release seemed to hinge entirely on whether star Marion Cotillard would garner a coveted Oscar nomination. When that didn't happen, it seemed like the studio just threw up its hands and said, "Well, that's it." Rust and Bone, co-written and directed by A Prophet's Jaques Audiard, has been given a very ignoble release, an afterthought for an awards season that didn't go Cotillard's way. While I would have nominated Cotillard for her powerful performance, I certainly wouldn't think much else about Rust and Bone, a frustrating film that doesn't know whose story its telling or what movie it wishes to be.
Alain van Versch (Matthias Schoenaerts) is struggling to take care of him self and his young son, Sam. Alain's ex-wife, and Sam's mother, used the boy as part of her drug trades. Alain moves in with his sister and gets a job as a nightclub bouncer. It's at the club where he meets Stephanie (Cotillard), a marine trainer. She's also feisty and getting kicked out for starting a fight. Stephanie works at a Sea World-esque water park, and one horrific day one of the whales makes a wrong turn. It runs into the stage, knocking Stephanie unconscious into the water where, we learn, a whale has eaten her legs below her knee. She contacts Alain and the two form an unlikely friendship, one that turns physical as Stephanie worries what her sexual performance will be like under her new circumstances. Alain dreams of becoming a professional kick boxer/MMA fighter, and he performs in underground fights as another means of income. Stephanie tags along and helps motivate him win his fights. The two grow closer, but Alain struggles with what real feelings might mean.
Rust and Bone has a serious case of multiple personality disorder. It looks like it's going to be one movie, then all of a sudden it changes into another, and then when you think you've got a handle on that, it suddenly transforms into another. I'm perfectly fine with a movie switching gears suddenly, however, with Rust and Bone, I felt like I was getting three different half-hearted drafts rather than an actual movie. I went into the film knowing little other than the selling point, that Cotillard was playing a woman readjusting to life after a freak accident took her legs. For the first twenty minutes of the movie, I didn't get a shred of this. I got a single father trying to scrape together what he could for himself and his son, often resorting to sneaky and illegal measures. Then shortly after Stephanie is introduced, the movie becomes all about her. We're dealing with her recovery and her anger and her loss. Just when I think I've settled onto the narrative direction of the movie, it becomes Alain's movie again. Now we're following his budding career as an amateur kick boxer, with Stephanie as his cheerleader. Then she dissolves into the background of the movie yet again, and it's all about him. I don't think the movie knew which character it wanted to be its focal point, so we get a sloppy interspersing of storylines vying for dominance. Personally, I was much more invested and intrigued by Stephanie's recovery than anything having to do with Alain trying to be a better father and failing. Then there's other muddled storylines like hidden cameras in the workplace that only further distract. It's just all too much and at the same time not enough.
Then there's the matter of the romance between Stephanie and Alain. I suppose you could say they are both wounded people trying to gain a greater sense of independence, battling new concepts of self-identity, but I think I'm doing the film too many favors. The sad part is that these two people are extremely shallow and limited form a characterization standpoint. The only defining quality about Stephanie is her injury. Sure she's feisty and can get into bar fights, and that fact that she's attracted to Alain says something about her, but really, her only characterization is her new physical limitations and her adjustment to them. Her physical needs are given much more attention by the screenplay than her emotional resonance. It makes me sound like a hardhearted bastard but I've said it before, I need characters that have more depth to them other than that they suffer. Alain, on the other hand, is even worse. He's a pretty flat character who's actually a really terrible father. He loses his temper easily, chooses quick sex over picking up his kid at school, plus there's the whole abandonment thing. It's hard for me to believe that anything really sinks in with this lunkhead. His relationship with Stephanie, meant to open him up, instead reconfirms what a jerk he is. He uses women as sexual playthings, and treats Stephanie with this same careless abandon. He clearly doesn't see her as anything but a comfortable fling, which he shows through his actions. If Alain's romantic views have changed, the film doesn't show any of this progression. I didn't care about him and I certainly didn't care about the two of them together.
Acting-wise, Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises) is quite moving throughout as she tries to come to grips with everything that has been taken from her. Her more traditionally dramatic crying scenes are powerful, sure, but it's the quiet moments that Cotillard nails. There's a moment where she goes through her former routines hand motions, and in that moment, set to Katy Perry "Firework," it becomes clear she is moving beyond her accident, accepting and getting stronger. It's a subtle celebration of the human spirit's ability to rebound, and Cotillard makes sure the moment is moving rather than cheesy. Also, there's a very tender moment when she returns to the water park and reunites with the whale that took her legs. Through the glass, she goes through her training motions and the whale still resounds accordingly to her commands. It's a wordless, touching moment that communicates so much, the nature of forgiveness, the culpability of an animal, but really about the connection between man and nature. Also, the fact that these two scenes are available on YouTube means somebody else must have seen them as standouts as well. She's also naked frequently, if that matters to you.
Schoenhaerts (Bullhead) is too opaque for his own good. He seems to settle for his brute physicality, and as such the movie does little to flesh him out further. He has a couple nice moments, especially at the film's climax, but it's too little to overturn the prevailing notion that his character is unworthy of co-lead status.
Probably the most impressive thing from Audiard's film is the special effects to remove Cotillard's legs. While the technology doesn't seem like it has changed since Lt. Dan's days in 1994, it's still a striking image to process. I'm still wondering why exactly Stepheanie gets tattoos on her (remaining) thighs, reading "Right" and "Left." Is she worried about going under the knife and the doctors taking more away from the wrong limb? That seems past the point of return. With the special effects technology, and the film's quotient for sweaty sex scenes, this is the art house equivalent of erotica for those discerning few with amputation fetishes.
When it came time to determine which film would compete at the Academy Awards, France chose the feel-good buddy comedy The Intouchables over Rust and Bone. It's easy to see why. Except for Cotillard's fierce performance, and some spiffy special effects, there is nothing remarkable about this ultimately frustrating and shallow movie. The mismatched love story between Stephanie and Alain feels implausible and too focused on surface-level desires; not enough to justify some statement of personal growth on both their parts. There needed to be a complete restructuring of the screenplay. Too often it keeps switching focus, changing gears, mixing in other subplots until it all feels like one big mess lacking firm direction. I might have loved a movie that focused on Stephanie and her recovery, perhaps even one about Alain, though I doubt it. What Rust and Bone offers is a movie that's persistently in doubt of its own identity, trying its hand at everything, forging necessary care to its lead characters. It's a fine film that could have been a great one, if only it really knew what it wanted to be in the first place.
Nate's Grade: C+ less
Alain van Versch (Matthias Schoenaerts) is struggling to take care of him self and his young son, Sam. Alain's ex-wife, and Sam's mother, used the boy as part of her drug trades. Alain moves in with his sister and gets a job as a nightclub bouncer. It's at the club where he meets Stephanie (Cotillard), a marine trainer. She's also feisty and getting kicked out for starting a fight. Stephanie works at a Sea World-esque water park, and one horrific day one of the whales makes a wrong turn. It runs into the stage, knocking Stephanie unconscious into the water where, we learn, a whale has eaten her legs below her knee. She contacts Alain and the two form an unlikely friendship, one that turns physical as Stephanie worries what her sexual performance will be like under her new circumstances. Alain dreams of becoming a professional kick boxer/MMA fighter, and he performs in underground fights as another means of income. Stephanie tags along and helps motivate him win his fights. The two grow closer, but Alain struggles with what real feelings might mean.
Rust and Bone has a serious case of multiple personality disorder. It looks like it's going to be one movie, then all of a sudden it changes into another, and then when you think you've got a handle on that, it suddenly transforms into another. I'm perfectly fine with a movie switching gears suddenly, however, with Rust and Bone, I felt like I was getting three different half-hearted drafts rather than an actual movie. I went into the film knowing little other than the selling point, that Cotillard was playing a woman readjusting to life after a freak accident took her legs. For the first twenty minutes of the movie, I didn't get a shred of this. I got a single father trying to scrape together what he could for himself and his son, often resorting to sneaky and illegal measures. Then shortly after Stephanie is introduced, the movie becomes all about her. We're dealing with her recovery and her anger and her loss. Just when I think I've settled onto the narrative direction of the movie, it becomes Alain's movie again. Now we're following his budding career as an amateur kick boxer, with Stephanie as his cheerleader. Then she dissolves into the background of the movie yet again, and it's all about him. I don't think the movie knew which character it wanted to be its focal point, so we get a sloppy interspersing of storylines vying for dominance. Personally, I was much more invested and intrigued by Stephanie's recovery than anything having to do with Alain trying to be a better father and failing. Then there's other muddled storylines like hidden cameras in the workplace that only further distract. It's just all too much and at the same time not enough.
Then there's the matter of the romance between Stephanie and Alain. I suppose you could say they are both wounded people trying to gain a greater sense of independence, battling new concepts of self-identity, but I think I'm doing the film too many favors. The sad part is that these two people are extremely shallow and limited form a characterization standpoint. The only defining quality about Stephanie is her injury. Sure she's feisty and can get into bar fights, and that fact that she's attracted to Alain says something about her, but really, her only characterization is her new physical limitations and her adjustment to them. Her physical needs are given much more attention by the screenplay than her emotional resonance. It makes me sound like a hardhearted bastard but I've said it before, I need characters that have more depth to them other than that they suffer. Alain, on the other hand, is even worse. He's a pretty flat character who's actually a really terrible father. He loses his temper easily, chooses quick sex over picking up his kid at school, plus there's the whole abandonment thing. It's hard for me to believe that anything really sinks in with this lunkhead. His relationship with Stephanie, meant to open him up, instead reconfirms what a jerk he is. He uses women as sexual playthings, and treats Stephanie with this same careless abandon. He clearly doesn't see her as anything but a comfortable fling, which he shows through his actions. If Alain's romantic views have changed, the film doesn't show any of this progression. I didn't care about him and I certainly didn't care about the two of them together.
Acting-wise, Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises) is quite moving throughout as she tries to come to grips with everything that has been taken from her. Her more traditionally dramatic crying scenes are powerful, sure, but it's the quiet moments that Cotillard nails. There's a moment where she goes through her former routines hand motions, and in that moment, set to Katy Perry "Firework," it becomes clear she is moving beyond her accident, accepting and getting stronger. It's a subtle celebration of the human spirit's ability to rebound, and Cotillard makes sure the moment is moving rather than cheesy. Also, there's a very tender moment when she returns to the water park and reunites with the whale that took her legs. Through the glass, she goes through her training motions and the whale still resounds accordingly to her commands. It's a wordless, touching moment that communicates so much, the nature of forgiveness, the culpability of an animal, but really about the connection between man and nature. Also, the fact that these two scenes are available on YouTube means somebody else must have seen them as standouts as well. She's also naked frequently, if that matters to you.
Schoenhaerts (Bullhead) is too opaque for his own good. He seems to settle for his brute physicality, and as such the movie does little to flesh him out further. He has a couple nice moments, especially at the film's climax, but it's too little to overturn the prevailing notion that his character is unworthy of co-lead status.
Probably the most impressive thing from Audiard's film is the special effects to remove Cotillard's legs. While the technology doesn't seem like it has changed since Lt. Dan's days in 1994, it's still a striking image to process. I'm still wondering why exactly Stepheanie gets tattoos on her (remaining) thighs, reading "Right" and "Left." Is she worried about going under the knife and the doctors taking more away from the wrong limb? That seems past the point of return. With the special effects technology, and the film's quotient for sweaty sex scenes, this is the art house equivalent of erotica for those discerning few with amputation fetishes.
When it came time to determine which film would compete at the Academy Awards, France chose the feel-good buddy comedy The Intouchables over Rust and Bone. It's easy to see why. Except for Cotillard's fierce performance, and some spiffy special effects, there is nothing remarkable about this ultimately frustrating and shallow movie. The mismatched love story between Stephanie and Alain feels implausible and too focused on surface-level desires; not enough to justify some statement of personal growth on both their parts. There needed to be a complete restructuring of the screenplay. Too often it keeps switching focus, changing gears, mixing in other subplots until it all feels like one big mess lacking firm direction. I might have loved a movie that focused on Stephanie and her recovery, perhaps even one about Alain, though I doubt it. What Rust and Bone offers is a movie that's persistently in doubt of its own identity, trying its hand at everything, forging necessary care to its lead characters. It's a fine film that could have been a great one, if only it really knew what it wanted to be in the first place.
Nate's Grade: C+ less
February 10, 2013
Nate Zoebl
Super Reviewer
... more Usually I start off my reviews with a question, but I can't quite think of one to hook you all. Rust and Bone is a drama and a romance but the haphazard storytelling made me question if I really liked the film, loved it or thought, at times, perhaps being a female from America I just don't get it. So I am confused.
The story is about two people who become connected in each other's lives. Both are experiencing low points and companionship appears to their best solution. Yes, it turns romantic but after completing the story, I am not sure it ended on a happy one. I should probably view this film again to write the review, but usually I don't do that. My gut reaction/opinion is usually pretty strong on a film with one viewing. So, I am not sure what is going on exactly.
I saw this in the theatre as it just opened up in the States. The cinema wasn't too crowded (although had one annoying patron loudly reacting from time to time) to distract me from the story. Reading subtitles was not a problem either, stayed with the story just fine. So, what's the issue?
Perhaps it was the storytelling and they way the director/screenwriter spun the tale that is making it difficult to write my typical review.
Marion Cotillard stars in this film. We have all seen her in a plethora of movies, both French and US , and she was fantastic in Rust and Bone as she always is in everything she touches. She played a far different character than I am accustomed to watching though but that's didn't throw off the film at all. Her skill is flawless in Rust and Bone but this character I could not figure out or know if I understood her completely. Again, I am not sure if it was the way she performed it or the way the story was told on the whole. Maybe I would have liked more of a background on her character - or maybe being left in the dark about the whole character was refreshing.
I do know I didn't care for the male lead, not the acting, but the person he portrayed. Matthias Schoenaerts was great but the character was one I could not empathize with or understand. Yes, he was good looking but he had a few too many faults that I just couldn't get past and couldn't fully grasp the attraction Marion Cotillard's character felt. But therein lies the rub: We can never fully explain why we fall in love with someone, AND no one is perfect; so why can't I just let go and let this fictional couple be? Is it because I am a woman and find the lead male unforgivable with some of his actions; or that I am an American and our sexual proclivities are viewed differently than European's?
See why I am at a loss?
I did enjoy the film; and being in this kind of flux about a story is a treat for me. Watching as many films as I do, sometimes I see a film, write about it and then forget it. Rust and Bone is lingering. That is a good thing even if feeling like I can't fully dissect, delve deep enough or comprehend certain aspects of this film might drive me a little nuts. Thinking about art is ALWAYS a good thing.
My recommendation is to see Rust and Bone, but by all means, do not read summaries of the film like the ones on IMDb or such. Those summaries almost dumb down the meaning or the essence of the story to make it a purely romantic one, and might lead you to believe it is one type of film. It is not - this film portrays a more authentic story with layers juxtaposed within that might make you question its intent. It was a surprise to me so let it be a surprise to you.
One last thing: Pay close attention to the narrator at the very end and what is said.
Review: 7 out of 10
Based on the short story by Craig Davidson. Rust and Bone: Stories less
The story is about two people who become connected in each other's lives. Both are experiencing low points and companionship appears to their best solution. Yes, it turns romantic but after completing the story, I am not sure it ended on a happy one. I should probably view this film again to write the review, but usually I don't do that. My gut reaction/opinion is usually pretty strong on a film with one viewing. So, I am not sure what is going on exactly.
I saw this in the theatre as it just opened up in the States. The cinema wasn't too crowded (although had one annoying patron loudly reacting from time to time) to distract me from the story. Reading subtitles was not a problem either, stayed with the story just fine. So, what's the issue?
Perhaps it was the storytelling and they way the director/screenwriter spun the tale that is making it difficult to write my typical review.
Marion Cotillard stars in this film. We have all seen her in a plethora of movies, both French and US , and she was fantastic in Rust and Bone as she always is in everything she touches. She played a far different character than I am accustomed to watching though but that's didn't throw off the film at all. Her skill is flawless in Rust and Bone but this character I could not figure out or know if I understood her completely. Again, I am not sure if it was the way she performed it or the way the story was told on the whole. Maybe I would have liked more of a background on her character - or maybe being left in the dark about the whole character was refreshing.
I do know I didn't care for the male lead, not the acting, but the person he portrayed. Matthias Schoenaerts was great but the character was one I could not empathize with or understand. Yes, he was good looking but he had a few too many faults that I just couldn't get past and couldn't fully grasp the attraction Marion Cotillard's character felt. But therein lies the rub: We can never fully explain why we fall in love with someone, AND no one is perfect; so why can't I just let go and let this fictional couple be? Is it because I am a woman and find the lead male unforgivable with some of his actions; or that I am an American and our sexual proclivities are viewed differently than European's?
See why I am at a loss?
I did enjoy the film; and being in this kind of flux about a story is a treat for me. Watching as many films as I do, sometimes I see a film, write about it and then forget it. Rust and Bone is lingering. That is a good thing even if feeling like I can't fully dissect, delve deep enough or comprehend certain aspects of this film might drive me a little nuts. Thinking about art is ALWAYS a good thing.
My recommendation is to see Rust and Bone, but by all means, do not read summaries of the film like the ones on IMDb or such. Those summaries almost dumb down the meaning or the essence of the story to make it a purely romantic one, and might lead you to believe it is one type of film. It is not - this film portrays a more authentic story with layers juxtaposed within that might make you question its intent. It was a surprise to me so let it be a surprise to you.
One last thing: Pay close attention to the narrator at the very end and what is said.
Review: 7 out of 10
Based on the short story by Craig Davidson. Rust and Bone: Stories less
February 9, 2013
Tired of Previews
Super Reviewer
- Stephanie: Can't a whore train whales?
- Stephanie: Can't a whore train whales?
- Stephanie: If we continue we have to do it right.
- Stephanie: What am I for you?
- Stephanie: A friend?
- Stephanie: A pal?
Discussion Forum
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| Joe Morgenstern | 4 months ago | 1 |
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