Rust and Bone is hard to place a label on. It’s part romance, it’s part drama, but it’s definitely French. Anchored by solid performances by the two leads, Rust and Bone tells an inspirational tale of disability and recovery that just misses being great.
The world has not been too kind to both of the leads. Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) has had to move in with his brother-in-law and sister (Celine Sallette). They are kind enough to house Alain and his son Sam (Armand Verdure). Alain’s muscular physique makes him pick up amateur kickboxing as well as a job as a bouncer. One night, he saves Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) from a bar fight. Stephanie is a whale trainer, and the next day she gets attacked by her whale and loses her legs. She calls up Alain and the two engage in a very adult relationship where they develop feelings for one another.
Rust and Bone is very much about shortcomings, some obvious and some not. On first sight, Alain and Stephanie’s pairing seems one-sided: she needs him to get around and carry her places. However, we learn very quickly that Stephanie really values self-reliance and is more polished in the ways of the world that Alain’s gruff nature. Director Jacques Audiard does a good job keeping the two leads on equal footing, growing together as people. The independence of both characters and their casual relationship at least for me left in doubt where the ending was headed (read: if they end up together).
The movie tries too hard to showcase early on how Alain is mostly operated by his id. He casually uses his libido, he engages in street fighting, and he openly neglects his responsibilities. The fighting is central to the story, so it is fine to use that coupled with responsibilities. However, the libido stuff is too overdone. I understand it is supposed to tie in with his relationship with Stephanie, but it drives its point home too hard (I couldn’t think of how to not make this a double entendre). The stuff with his son is the weakest material; he is most often used as a plot device and has no real character.
Rust and Bone hinges on the two leads and their chemistry to be successful, and they mostly deliver. Marion Cotillard has the easier job being the cripple. However, the big scenes like the club scenes, the return to the water park, and the scene after the accident she nails. She gives lots of depth to Stephanie through subtle gestures or nuances faces. Matthias Schoenaerts is given a one note character and gives him some nice layers of complexity when forced to confront his feelings. Schoenaerts does a great job managing his emotions for the varying degrees of pain/happiness he encounters in Rust and Bone: he attacks when he is attacked, and runs when his gruff exterior is broken. He and Cotillard work very well together and have a very relaxed chemistry. While not the best chemistry I have seen on-screen in 2012, the opposites attract element still succeeds because of the two established vets.
France’s production companies must have really wanted to see more cripples in movies. This year, they gave us the Intouchables about a paraplegic older man and now Rust and Bone about a legless whale attack victim. Both are interesting character studies about incomplete physical people who want to be taken seriously mentally. Rust and Bone succeeds with that message, but slips and falls along the way. If I want to see a movie about a whale, I’ll stick with Free Willy.