Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) finds himself with a five-year-old child on his hands. Sam (Armand Verdure) is his son, but he hardly knows him. Homeless, penniless and friendless, Ali takes refuge with his sister Anna (Corinne Masiero) in Antibes, in the south of France. There things improve immediately. She puts them up in her garage, she takes the child under her wing and the weather is glorious. Ali, a man of formidable size and strength, gets a job as a bouncer in a nightclub. He comes to the aid of Stephanie (Marion Cotillard) during a nightclub brawl. Aloof and beautiful, Stephanie seems unattainable, but in his frank manner Ali leaves her his phone number anyway. Stephanie trains orca whales at Marineland. When a performance ends in tragedy, a call in the night again brings them together. When Ali sees her next, Stephanie is confined to a wheel chair : she has lost her legs and quite a few illusions. Ali's direct, unpitying physicality becomes Stephanie's lifeline, but Ali too is transformed by Stephanie's tough resilience. And Stephanie comes alive again. As their stories intersect and diverge, they navigate a world where strength, beauty, youth and blood are commodities-but where trust, truth, loyalty and love cannot be bought and sold, and courage comes in many forms.
- Director: Jacques Audiard
- Country: France | Belgium
- Genre: Drama | Mystery
- Year: 2012
- Run Time: 02:02:23
- imdb Score: 7.6/10 (9,080 votes)
- Language: French
- Rating: R
- Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts and Fabien Baïardi
Kenneth Turan - LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Rust and Bone is a strong, emotionally replete experience, and also a tour de force of directorial button pushing. Mr. Audiard is a canny showman, adept at manipulating the audience's feelings and expectations with quick edits and well-chosen songs."
A.O. Scott - THE NEW YORK TIMES
"One of the year's best films precisely because it can't be boiled down to a message or synopsis. It's an exercise in style that risks trashiness in search of transcendence, and it's a sizzling celebration of the power of music, the power of images, and the electric, destructive power of the human body."
Andrew O'Hehir - SALON.COM
Cabourg Romantic Film Festival 2012
Best Film
Hollywood Film Festival 2012
Actress of the Year - Marion COtillard
London Film Festival 2012
Best Film
Valladolid Int'l Film Festival 2012
Best Director, Best Screenlay, Best Actor
Cannes Film Festival 2012
Munich Film Festival 2012
Telluride Film Festival 2012
Toronto Int'l Film Festival 2012
Athens Film Festival 2012
Edmonton Int'l Film Festival 2012
Hamptons Int'l Film Festival 2012
Stockholm Int'l Film Festival 2012
and many more...