Rust and Bone: Repairing the Damage

Like Amour, Rust and Bone is yet another French-language film about a love story. But this story is far from conventional. It can be summarized as follows: after losing her legs in a freak accident, a killer whale trainer begins a relationship with an amateur kick boxer. Doesn't that sound like something you have to see?

The always incandescent Marion Cotillard plays Stephanie, a confident, beautiful woman who trains orcas at a marine park. One day, things go wrong in the middle of an aquatic routine and Stephanie wakes up in the hospital to find that both of her legs have been amputated. She falls into a deep depression, but one day decides to call up Ali, a bouncer she met at a nightclub. Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) has a young son, and after a period of homelessness, recently moved into town to live with his sister. He works at various odd jobs while training for underground kick boxing matches. When Stephanie calls, he comes over and is refreshingly straightforward. He convinces her to leave her apartment, takes her to the beach, and before she realizes it, Stephanie is swimming in the ocean and happy for the first time in months.

Their relationship is exceedingly strange but comforting. They are both damaged souls and they take solace in each other's company. Their friendship evolves, but Stephanie is perplexed by Ali's blunt yet inscrutable personality. She starts to attend his kick boxing matches and once she is fitted for her prosthetic limbs, she is walking around and becomes his de facto manager. Unfortunately, Ali seems to attract trouble, and as Stephanie's life improves dramatically, Ali's life starts to crumble.

Cotillard and Schoenaerts put in brilliant performances as two troubled but kindred spirits who battle through exceptional circumstances and manage to make a life for themselves. Of course, the most impressive aspect of this movie is the astonishing use of special effects to make Cotillard look like a double amputee. It is a magnificent piece of "movie magic" that never looks fake or unrealistic, thereby ensuring your focus is squarely on the story.

Rust and Bone is an unexpected and gorgeous movie. It is richly told and incredibly moving, with a cast of many-faceted characters that defy description. Its unconventionality might explain why it seems to have lost out to Amour in the Oscar shuffle. But this is still a movie you should seek out and experience.