290: Rust and Bone

[00:00:00] Chapter 4, Foreign Films. Let's get into Rust and Bone, which came out in 2012, directed by Jacques Audillard, sorry if I butchered that name, sure I did, stars Marin Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, Celine Silette, not a lot of big names,

[00:00:19] and the synopsis is, put in charge of his young son, Helene, leaves Belgium for, and TB's, sorry if I'm butchering those titles, to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Helene's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows

[00:00:33] deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident. This came out around the time when I was just starting to get into movies that were not just blockbusters, I was really starting to study film, I was about to go to film

[00:00:45] school, and I believe I saw this one for the first time maybe 2013-2014 when I was getting into international films, and I love international films, and if you are not someone who have seen many of those, I encourage you to seek those out.

[00:01:00] Marin Cotillard probably saw her first in Public Enemies, maybe Inception, I love her, I think she is so underrated, she's amazing. Matthias Schoenaerts is someone who didn't love him when he first started out,

[00:01:14] I think he was maybe a little too, I don't want to say this in a bad way because it's not a bad thing inherently, but he sort of has that effortless style in a way, he's usually very stern and stoic, and since then I've grown to

[00:01:27] really really enjoy him. I think he's an awesome character actor, and he is really really good in this, but Marin Cotillard in my opinion is the best. This movie is not one for everyone, it's quite, not grim, but it's very depressing

[00:01:44] at times because Matthias Schoenaerts is someone who is taking care of his young son and he's trying to make it in the world of kickboxing and fighting and that's really all he knows and knows how to do well, and he's struggling to get by

[00:01:59] and make money and also make a good impression and raise his son well in the time that he has with him. But the real big thing, spoiler here, the big moment in the movie where Marin Cotillard's character wakes up after the accident and

[00:02:16] she has no legs or at least her legs were amputated above the knee, I'm pretty sure is horrifying and shocking because she has that wail of like, where are my legs, where are my legs, and that moment, because you don't know that's coming

[00:02:29] necessarily, you know she was in an accident, but you're like, oh she probably just broke her arm or whatever. Nope, she lost both of her legs and she didn't know she was losing them until she wakes up, which is pretty horrifying to think about if

[00:02:40] that was you. So that's an incredible acting moment right there, but the relationship between the two of them is very touching and thoughtful and unconventional in a lot of ways because he's this fighter, she's the exact

[00:02:58] opposite of him in a lot of ways, and she really questions why he does what he does, and those conversations are very interesting and really puts people in the spotlight and say, hey why are you doing this? Why do you want to fight? Why do you

[00:03:11] want to kickbox? Why did you do that? Why'd you do that? And then he'll ask her the same things, at least in some ways, and so those conversations are really great. One of my favorite moments is where after she's lost her legs and

[00:03:24] they've gotten together in terms of not necessarily romance but a partnership or friendship, where she is carried out to the ocean by Matthias and she's so self-conscious at first and she's so worried about other people looking at

[00:03:41] her and all that in terms of her feeling embarrassed or whatever it might be, and then he picks her up and carries her to the water and that's a really sweet touching moment where she has a little bit of freedom and peace and calm and she

[00:03:53] thinks she's found someone who still looks at her the same way no matter what and I really really like that moment. The sequence towards the end with the frozen lake and Matthias and his son is really intense and scary because you

[00:04:09] know the Sun falls through the ice and etc etc. I don't want to spoil too much in case you haven't seen it but as I was saying the romance itself is quite interesting because at first when they start getting intimate she's like I

[00:04:22] don't want to kiss you because I don't want us to get more feelings for each other and then later on she lets up. I guess I am spoiling a lot here sorry but it's a really good movie not one that you can just throw on it's not a

[00:04:35] romantic comedy or Fifty Shades of Grey or anything like that it's very real grounded not dark necessarily but very serious and emotionally draining movie but in good ways to me it's not one I want to rewatch very frequently but

[00:04:53] every time I watch it and I've seen it twice now I believe I really really enjoyed both times and even after that first viewing it really stuck with me and I hadn't watched it until just recently probably for about 10 years and

[00:05:06] it really did stick with me most of the movie did so I really encourage people to watch it just be in the right mood being the right mindset and I think you'll really enjoy it and no matter what those two lead performances are

[00:05:18] worth watching just for that reason so I highly encourage you to check it out that one is a four out of five