'Rust and Bone' --A Review

The Missus and I decided a night at the Bijou was in order a couple of weeks ago, so I picked her up from work, grabbed one of the new (and delicious) Cool Ranch Flavored Doritos Locos Tacos from Taco Bell and we went down to see Rust and Bone at the Bijou.

I'd heard a lot of good things about Rust and Bone and I'm happy to report that the movie more than lives up to the positive buzz and critical acclaim than it's been getting.   The story of Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) an unemployed father to his young son, Sam (Armand Verdure)- the opening of the movie sees them arriving in the south of France, looking for work and finding a place to crash with Alain's sister, Anna (Corrine Masiero) who has struggles of her own to contend with.   Alain finds work as a bouncer at a local nightclub where one night he meets Stephanie (Marian Cotillard) whom he escorts home after she gets injured at a brawl at the club.   They exchange phone numbers and go their separate ways.

Stephanie is a trainer at a local marine park (think Sea World.  Like maybe a EuroSea World?) and she is injured in an accident and soon wakes up in hospital to discover that both of her legs have been amputated below the knee.  Understandably depressed, she gives Alain a call and soon the two of them become friends and then eventually friends with benefits- though Alain is open and honest with her about his involvement with other women and the non-exclusive aspects of their relationship.  The relationship pulls Stephanie out of her depression and she starts to feel better about herself again, getting artificial limbs and walking (albeit slowly and with the use of a cane) again.   

Soon, she even begins to accompany Alain to his amateur boxing matches.  But when Alain takes an odd job helping to install cameras in various stores around the area that enables management to spy on their employees, it inadvertantly gets Anna fired and after a confrontation with Anna, Alain leaves and heads north to a training facility to pursue his dream of kickboxing- leave his son behind.

Awhile later, Sam arrives to spend the day with Alain and the two of them head out into the snow covered forests to go sledding and eventually attempt skating on a frozen lake.  When Sam falls through a weak spot in the lake, a frantic Alain has to punch his way through the ice to fish an unconcious Sam out, fracturing his hands in the process.   Although in a coma for awhile, Sam pulls through and Alain eventually breaks down on the phone with Stephanie as he realizes that he loves her and how insensitive he's been to her this whole time.   The film closes with scenes of Alain going professional in kickboxing in the aftermath of winning his first major fight, Sam and Stephanie by his side.

If I could find a fault with this movie, it's a minor one:  it got a bit long in the middle and I started yawning a bit- but that could also be due to the fact that we went to a 9PM showing and I was, well, tired.  But that minor quibble is more than redeemed by the performances of both Schoenaerts and Cotillard- especially Cotillard.   Her despair at her situation and witnessing her slow emergence from a very dark depression indeed is a thing of beauty to behold and she's amazing at portraying a stunning range of emotions in a single glance.  The CGI used to create the illusion of her missing legs is amazing as well. 

But what seemed so natural- and this is what made the movie unusual to me, was the way the film developed the relationship between Schoenaerts and Cotillard- nothing felt forced between them and what eventually resulted felt like a genuine, adult relationship with all the complications that come along with them, good and bad.  I also loved how Stephanie's disability is a total non-issue for Alain.  He doesn't infantilize her- he straight up helps her out when she needs help nothing more, nothing less.  That too felt astonishingly genuine.

Overall:  A raw and powerful love story, Rust and Bone deserves every bit of critical acclaim it's won so far.  The performances of the actors are amazing, the relationship is probably one of the most genuine and natural relationships I've ever seen portrayed onscreen and makes for an incredible movie.  **** out of ****.