Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os - 2012)

We really liked this powerful story of a two people rebuilding their lives--a single father of a 5 year old and a woman who loses both legs in an accident at Marineland on the French Riviera where she trains killer whales. While understandably scary and sad, it's not depressing. The gory details of the accident are offscreen, but the man's boxing career ensures this isn't a blood-free movie. You can infer from my comments in the last post, Quartet, that I believe the man, Ali, is the protagonist, and Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts (new to me) is great as the guy trying to grow up. However he has only one of the 28 nominations and wins on the imdb list which is more extensive than mine. Marion Cotillard (she was working on The Dark Knight Rises concurrently with this one--think back to her character in that one, and know that she had given birth in May 2011, started Dark Knight in July, and added her starring role in Rust and Bone before the other was finished) has one win (Hollywood Film Fest) and six nominations, including Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice, and Golden Globe, for her role as Stéphanie. Here's where I need to insert a shout out to the digital effects team, inexplicably nominated for nothing. We see her foreshortened legs a lot and they look totally real. No effects are needed for this talented actress to convince us of her emotions, though. Supporting strength comes from adorable little Armand Verdure as Ali's son Sam and Corinne Masiero as Ali's older sister who takes them in.

Director/co-writer Jacques Audiard and co-writer Thomas Bidegain (same jobs on A Prophet) have artfully merged two short stories by Craig Davidson: "Rust and Bone" about a boxer and "Rocket Ride" about a man losing his legs, but Audiard has said he had enough men in A Prophet so made Stéphanie female. Audiard also preferred a boxer to an actor for the part of Ali, but settled on Schoenaerts, who is both.

There really is a Marineland in Antibes, and the production was allowed to shoot there, both with full audiences and after hours, as well as in neighboring Cannes and the magnificent beaches in the area. For some snowy scenes at the end they went to Belgium.

Once again, composer Alexandre Desplat (most recently blogged in Zero Dark Thirty; in the last four years I've seen 18 of the 31 projects he has scored and there have been 143 since he started in 1985) provides the soundtrack. When does this guy sleep? There are also a number of songs, every one in English, on the soundtrack. You can listen to long clips on this site. The Katy Perry song Firework is featured as well but not listed anywhere. I guess they figured they didn't need to help her sell it.

As fast as everyone talks you'll be glad there are subtitles. Rated 81% by critics and audiences alike on rottentomatoes, this is well worth your time.