Rust And Bone
Our countdown of the best movies of 2012 continues today as we heap praise on Rust And Bone.
Rust And Bone lit up the festive circuit earlier this year and the Best Film gong at the London Film Festival is just one of the gongs that it has already picked up.
Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) a killer whale trainer who late one night meets Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) in a fracas at the nightclub where he works as a bouncer.
Put in charge of his young son, Alain has come from Belgium to Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family.
Alain’s bond with Stephanie grows deeper after she suffers a horrible accident, bringing the two together once more.
I have been a fan of Marion Cotillard since she blew me away as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose and this is easily her best performance since that Oscar win - and she could well be on for a second Best Actress Oscar triumph.
It is a tour de force performance from Cotillard as her character struggles after the loss of her legs.
It is emotional as it is powerful as Stephanie starts to rebuild her life and accept what has happened for her.
And she begins to accept her new life thanks to her budding relationship with Alain who proves to be a real rock for her.
It is a tender and real relationship that develops between the pair and Cotillard and Schoenaerts play it so perfectly.
As well as great acting the script is fantastic as there is a strong narrative that runs throughout the entire film that never misses a beat.
And it never misses a beat due to the steady hand of director Jacques Audiard as he brings such a drive to this movie.
He is not afraid to be emotional and, at times, melodramatic but he never allows the film to wallow and get bogged down with these feelings.
Rust and Bone is a movie with many layers and levels as it follows a handicapped women who gets her life back on track, a man on the operates at the shady end of society as well as complex and difficult family dynamic and all these plates are kept spinning perfectly.
Sadly I feel that this movie will not get the recognition that it deserves on the awards circuit this year but Cotillard looks set to battle it out for the Best Actress Oscar.
This is a movie that is not to miss as it is a triumph from start to finish and contains some incredibly powerful performances.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Marion Cotillard