Rust and Bone (2012) is the ultimate collision between (wo)man and beast. Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard, Academy Award winner for her lead as Édith' Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007)), orca trainer, becomes a snack for one killer whale as she donates her legs in a freak accident at poolside. Her recovery takes an interesting course as it develops through an increasingly romantic relation with Belgian Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), a masochistic kickboxing bare-knuckle street fighter who settles with his son Sam in Antibes on the Côte d'Azur near the French border with Italy. French director Jacques Audiard removes any traces of glamour in Antibes as the camera focuses on a gritty blue-color life. The acting is exceptional in a beautifully constructed movie about very unlikeable people with damaged souls and battered bodies. The friends-with-benefits relation morphs into something less animalistic.
The film’s title, Rust and Bone, refers to the taste of blood in the mouth when, upon a blow to the face, the lips are crushed against the teeth. It is also the title of a collection of short stories (in particular Rocket Ride) by the Canadian writer and amateur boxer, Craig Davidson, which was very successful when it was first published back in 2005. The violence of Ali's bouts is exciting to Stephanie in a disturbing fashion. Audiard's films show a fascination with the world of the voyou or thug. Killough (purefilmcreative.com) opines a thug is dangerous in a purely brutal way, whereas the voyou's danger may be life threatening, it is also perversely seductive.
The digital effects are out of the ordinary as they create a legless actress rather than assisting wizards, monsters or superheroes. The significance of her tattoos (DROITE and GAUCHE with reversed Es) is again part of boxing lingo. In French, une droite means a right punch in face, une gauche a left.
When Sam falls through the ice on the skating pond, Ali is willing to break his own hands to break the ice and save him. The human hand has 27 bones, broken hands never fully heal, so we are told at the film's conclusion through a voice over when Ali holds Sam's hands.
The soundtrack is excellent especially in the trailer, utilizing Antibes native band M83's "My Tears are Becoming a Sea" off their Hurry Up, We're Dreaming album.
