Rust and Bone

I haven't seen a film from this director before, so in that respect I had no expectations. But I do love Cotillard, and since her break-out year n 2007 with La Vie En Rose she's one of the ones I look forward to the most. I have liked her in mostly all of the American films I have seen her in, but her heavy accent is always what kinda holds her back a little. I think because English seems to come so difficult to her, it seems like her just talking calls attention to itself. So in that regard I was definitely interested in seeing her in a 2nd foreign-language film. I haven't seen many of the Oscar contenders, but she gives what is easily the best performance of the year so far. Here she pretty much lives her character, and there is not one false note in her entire performance. This is key because in the past, although she always has this fierce magnetism, she also is sometimes inconsistent in her recent American films. This reaffirms what I had thought of, that Cotilard just fits better in her native tongue. She can be melodramatic when she needs to play a melodramatic character (La Vie En Rose) and here she gives an acting performance that's the polar opposite. Her many nuances make this is a fairly low-key performance, but I'll be surprised if there's anything bad to be said about her here, and that's a testament to how well she just fits in it. As for the film itself, it was actually very good. It's a film that I can already see myself reflecting on in the future. My only real complaint would be that the ending was perhaps a little bit too neat.

That life is full of surprises is something we already know. However, it's still hard to grasp the meaning of certain incidents that are supposed to shed light on things we do not understand. "De Rouille et D'os" is a French-Belgium production that brings back the beautiful and talented Marion Cotillard in a very powerful role that, somehow, did not manage to touch me. The story is in fact quite boring and although I'd like to appreciate the effort invested by the actors, I believe the idea, though good, didn't quite work. It's depiction of one soul-searching character and the social difficulties encountered by an other become interconnected to bring a possible closure. But the numerous incidents, apparently meant to be part of a whole are just like leaves on the wind, going everywhere with no direction. I personally didn't really like it and as much of an open mind I always try to keep, this one still failed to surprise me.

This is an insipidly tedious and vacuous film. No doubt given weight and kudos due to the producers previous efforts... Yes, it is gritty, raw, coarse, ribald, brutal, and all the other supposedly illuminating catchphrases applied to films of this ilk (although, most others do have some redeeming qualities)... Yet, it is also excruciatingly clichéd, naive, formulaic, facile and ferociously fanciful. Constantly falling into the lowly laudable realm of idealised, but totally unfeasible perspective of the human condition often succumbed to by parochial practitioners of supposed blunt realism, who subscribe to being in the know, but are not of the know when it comes to the quagmire of human frailties, foibles and fabrications implicit in the worlds of those with fractured lives. From the outset this film is void of any insight. Preferring to present blank faced obstinance, sullen sanctimony, wilful indifference, contrived violence, and gutter imagery to pad out what could only loosely be called a story. Considering the talent at his disposal (the brilliant Marion Cotillard for one,) the producer has forgone any opportunity for character development, depth of emotional exploration, or even a remote semblance of projecting a believable portrayal of the leading protagonists. In its way, although not overtly obvious, this is a silly, sickly sentimental film for those who would feel violently affronted at the suggestion of watching such a thing... a trend which has been going on for some time now, and will no doubt continue to do so! Though totally lacking in scope, the film will surely play into the misguided hands of those who want to believe in the mythological nobility and underlying sensitivity of thugs, which gets reinforced by the vulnerability of a certain kind of woman, who purportedly can see and bring to the fore those noble inner qualities invisible to all others. While typing this review the thought that has constantly been reverberating through my mind is; "Sometimes we need to shoot less film and more producers!"

Marion Cotillard in "Rust And Bone" gave my favorite performance in a long, long time. She is astonishing. Her performance here touched a personal cord with me and reminded me of actresses who've been able to transform me. Yes, that's exactly what she's done, transform me. She was able to awaken my sense of compassion and admiration. Simone Signnoret in "Room At The Top", Annie Girardot in "Rocco And His Brothers" Samantha Eggar in "The Collector", Charlotte Rampling in "The Night Porter" Those performances by those actresses not only instructed me as a man but inspired me. Now Marion Cotillard has done it again for me and I'm very grateful. As a bizarre note, she has been ignored by the Oscars, how is that possible?