French writer-director Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed drama about two utterly unhappy individuals forming an unlikely but genuine relationship arrives in local theaters next month.

Based on short stories by Canadian writer Craig Davidson, the movie, “Rust and Bone,” stars Marion Cotillard (“Midnight in Paris,” “The Dark Knight Rises”) as Stephanie, a beautiful, self-assured killer whale trainer who works at a marine park in Antibes, a resort town in southern France.

One night she runs into Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), a penniless single dad who works as a club bouncer, at his club; he escorts her home after she gets caught in a brawl. Ali is intrigued by Stephanie’s job as an orca trainer ― and perhaps its dangerous nature ― and leaves his number. She does not call him.

Shortly after their meeting, Stephanie suffers a terrible accident during a whale show and her legs are amputated below the knee. After cutting herself off from the rest of the world, she somehow and suddenly thinks of Ali, and gives him a call. He agrees to visit her in her apartment. 

Stephanie strangely finds his aloof nature comforting; without pitying her, Ali takes her to a beach. For the first time since the accident, Stephanie swims in the sea. The experience liberates her: In the water, she does not need a wheelchair, nor does she need extra support to move.

The movie continues to follow their honest and sometimes-rocky relationship, and how it slowly changes their lives. Ali, an unhappy and slightly abusive dad to his 5-year-old son, has an unexplainable, burning passion for kickboxing. He soon starts a career as a kickboxer in illegal matches, which does not pay much. The two realize how similar the matches and training killer whales are ― both require them to risk their safety ― the day before Ali’s first match. Stephanie, who tries to persuade him to drop the idea of kickboxing at first, decides to support him.

“You are going to get whacked on the face and risk your health for 500 euros?” Stephanie asks Ali. “Oh, stop driving me crazy!”

Ali replies, “I am doing it to fight, for fun. Why did you clown around with your fish? For the fun of it, right?”

Cotillard is engrossing as Stephanie, who survives the horrific accident which transforms her inside and out.

“Stephanie is ‘fuller’ without legs than with her legs,” said the French actress through the local promoters of the film. “She lives in the movie the two strongest experiences of her life ― losing a part of herself but gaining much more, and falling in love. The film is about someone who is recovering from being empty. The experiences shake every little living cell inside her.”

Audiard explores their relationship with poetic, dreamlike cinematography, using repeated images of water, the whales and the sunlight. One of the most memorable scenes is, arguably, one in which Stephanie revisits the Marine Park after getting her prostheses. Alone in the huge aquarium, she reconnects with the killer whale, who was involved in the freak accident, through the window. She performs what looks like a daily instruction ritual as a trainer, and the whale responds by moving beautifully along with her hands in the bluish water.

The film competed for the top prize at last year’s Cannes International Film Festival and also received two Golden Globe nominations for best foreign-language film and best actress.

A Green Narae Media release, “Rust and Bone” opens in local theaters on May 2.
By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)