A guy like Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) would normally never stand a chance with a woman like Stephanie (Marion Cotillard). She’s intensely beautiful and intensely interesting, a trainer who works with killer whales. He’s not particularly charming and even less successful. But a terrible accident on the job will cost Stephanie her legs. And then it will seem perfectly natural for the woman used to male attention of the highest sort to seek out the loser who was interested in her — but not too interested in her.
That’s what the French film “Rust and Bone” is about. Though, of course, it’s also about much more. Nominated for Golden Globes in the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actress, Drama categories, “Rust and Bone” would likely get an Oscar nod in that first category, if France hadn’t decided to submit “The Intouchables” instead. The country might have made the wrong choice. Though “Rust and Bone” hovers on the edge of melodrama, it eventually navigates the dangers to become a touching, authentic film.
