Review of Rust and Bone (2012) by Barna K — 20 Jan 2013

The film's actual focus is the transfusion and realization of the social organization of orcas in(to) certain human groups.

This is a wacky proposition at first, but this the insight that drives the film. What if we as a species can actually learn something about ourselves by referencing a small orca pod in a Southern French marine theme park?

Yes, Rust and Bone is a family, love and survival story and all, but the underlying narrative is driven by Stephanie's (Cotillard) rebirth as the pod leader of a group of terrestrial killer whales with a deep psychological need for an unquestionable leader. Stephanie's accident presents first a bodily transformation, later the real opportunity to form her own clan.

Within the sociological context of the film: Audiard's answer to the failed emancipation of the underclass seems to be to let feminine energy order and even radicalize the portrayed groups of amoral, sensation-seekers and offer the social organization of Orcas (highly intelligent, culture-bearing, human-like sea mammals) as an alternative way out of alienation and disintegration. Scary stuff. Socially conscious French cinema meets Cronenberg.