The rouille et d’os (2012)

Directed by: Jacques Audiard | 120 minutes | drama | Actors: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Fabien Baïardi, David Billaud, Océane Cartia, Katia Chaperon, Yannick Choirat, Irina Coito, Jean-Michel Correia, Catherine Fa, Mourad Frarema, Fabien L’Allain, Bouli Lanners, Andès Lopez Jabois, Laetitia Malbranque, Corinne Masiero, Fred Menut, Françoise Michaud, Nathalie Millar, Soulyane Rajraji, Pascal Rozand, Céline Sallette, Anne-Marie Tomat, Hedi Touihri, Armand Verdure, Duncan Versteegh

Jacques Audiard’s ‘De rouille et d’os’ is about the Belgian ex-boxer Alain van Versch, nicknamed Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts). Out of need, Ali leaves with his five-year-old son Sam for Antibes in the south of France. There he finds shelter with his sister (Corinne Masiero) whom he has not seen for a long time. He becomes a bouncer in a dancing where he meets orca trainer Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard). ‘De rouille et d’os’ is professionally put together at an energetic pace. Director Audiard knows how to fully hold the attention with a lengthy 120 minutes, the story continues to fascinate.

When Stéphanie is injured in a fight, Ali brings her home. Along the way they argue and criticize each other fiercely. Ali leaves his phone number, but there is no contact. Later, Stéphanie loses both legs in an accident with the orcas. Ali has read about it, but doesn’t get in touch. Stéphanie is deeply depressed, has shut himself off from everything and everyone, but calls him anyway. Ali’s path, meanwhile, is not a bed of roses. He has become a night watchman and gets involved in dirty business where employees are spied on by the boss with the help of illegal cameras. When the man who installs the cameras (Bouli Lanners) finds himself into boxing and other martial arts, Ali gets involved in illegal fights where money is heavily gambled. He will earn a lot of money with this, but he also runs great risks of not getting out unscathed.

Slowly some form of relationship grows between Ali and Stéphanie. For Ali, this means only sex. He’s willing to come by for a turn, but no more ‘fuss’. Nevertheless, his honest and unvarnished confrontational directness with which he treats her (‘does it all still work for you?) hits exactly the right tone and sensitive spot. Stéphanie becomes more and more attached to him. She wants to deepen the relationship and not just have sex: ‘aren’t we more than animals?’ However, both individuals have also been severely damaged in their past. The illegally placed cameras are discovered, Ali threatens to get into serious trouble and his manager has to go into hiding. The relationship between Ali and Stéphanie gradually becomes more complicated when Stéphanie is forced to act as his manager in the illegal fights. Ali decides to flee from all problems, but here too the following applies: ‘flight is no longer possible’.

Both Matthias Schoenaerts and Marion Cotillard portray their characters powerfully and convincingly. This gives the characters of their roles an almost oppressive interpretation. Director Jacques Audiard previously scored with ‘Un Prophète’ and now with ‘De rouille et d’os’ has once again put down a raw realistic story that runs smoothly, which at times also has slightly melodramatic features. However, the attention will not be lost for a moment due to the nice and fast editing and the strong camera work, which is often close to the actors. The events in which the characters fight against themselves and their past problems, as well as with the feelings they have developed for each other, follow each other in quick succession. ‘De rouille et d’os’ is a penetrating, confrontational and lifelike love story.