De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone)
2012
**
Director: Jacques Audiard
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure, Corinne Masiero, Céline Sallette, Bouli Lanners, Mourad Frarema, Jean-Michel Correia, Yannick Choirat
Ali, who is put in charge of his five-year-old son Sam, moves to southern France where he becomes a bare-knuckle street fighter and forms an unusual relationship with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer who loses both of her legs in a horrific accident. Jacques Audiard's follow-up to the terrific A Prophet is a well-acted but deeply disappointing drama with big structural problems and an incredibly uninteresting protagonist. As a boyfriend, Ali is so unpleasant and self-centred that the supposed romance never comes alive. As a father, he is so abusive and negligent that the climactic dramatic twist left me completely cold. Adapted from Craig Davidson's short stories.
