Review of Rust and Bone (2012) by Ben D — 08 Mar 2013

I came to this because Jacques Audiard directed the brilliant A Prophet. In Rust and Bone he again displays a beautiful visual eye - some of the photography here is brilliant, and he elicits fine performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts. Rust and Bone is a warmer film than A Prophet, romantic at heart but with brutality at its edges, but does seem full of its sense of self-worth. It is a film very pleased with itself, and believing it is telling an important story. Unfortunately it does fall into sentimentality, and Audiard uses some emotional trickery to manipulate the viewer: making this feel a very American movie, rather than a French one. It might explain why it has done well at the international box office.

This is not to say that Rust and Bone is a bad film - it is a very handsome one - but it has little to make it truly distinctive. We have seen these emotional, heart-warming stories about disability before - we have even seen its kick of an ending before too - and so though you might be caught up in its swell as it runs, it begins to fade pretty quickly afterward.