At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, a small film called “The Artist” took the Croisette by storm, and steamrolled through the entire awards season seven months later. It made a Hollywood star out of its leads, none more so than Jean Dujardin, and the buzz this year has been whether another French film can do the same for its male lead.
That is, however, where all comparisons between the two films end, as Jacques Audiard’s “Rust and Bone” is worlds away from “The Artist’s” charm and sentimentality, instead hitting the audience hard where it hurts emotionally. A stark and beautiful film, focusing on the brutality and violence of life.
