Rust and Bone (2012)

Rust and Bone

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Corinne Masiero

Grade: B [69] 

For a film about drawing strength from physical adversity, “Rust and Bone” isn’t half as uplifting a time as its slushy, aquatic trailer would have you believe. It’s rare that a romance comes along so eager to purge its characters of traditional forms of grace, and still express the rich, interdependent courage that exists between them. The imposing performances of Cotillard and Schoenaerts punctuate Audiard’s themes well, and the coarseness of their romance lends something uniquely powerful to the experience. It’s somewhat soured when some heavy-handed plotting sweeps in to enforce an epiphany in the final act, but the effect is more dispiriting than ruinous. When even Katy Perry’s “Firework” is utilised to profoundly moving effect, you have to figure that this is a somewhat successful exercise in spinning straw into gold.