The film I saw today is one of the reasons I love Cannes so much. Yes, it’s pretty and glamorous and gorgeous to be by the seaside, and there are celebs every where you go. But it’s the discovery of new films, and being moved by a cinematic experience that I appreciate even more. Today that happened to me in the movie Rust and Bone, or De Rouille et d’os , which stars Marion Cotillard and Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts. It’s a love story, but about how disabilities, both physical and other, shape life and one’s character. Marion plays a Marineworld instructor who loses her legs in an accident. Matthias is an emotionally crippled father of a 5-year-old he doesn’t quite know how to handle. It’s such a rewarding film experience that I wanted to keep clapping long after the credits stopped rolling and the music had ended. The music! You could put Bon Iver over anything and it would look and sound good, but the use of Justin Vernon’s music here and the score by Alexander Desplat wraps around the story and pushes it that much further into your mind and heart. There’s already Oscar buzz around the film, and word is, this French film may be the next The Artist, with Matthias the next Jean DuJardin. The film premiered in Cannes in the evening and has been drawing fantastic reviews.
Cannes is a wonderful pot of spontaneous serendipity. My friend and fellow journalist Marie Joelle and I went out for the night. As we walked into the JW Marriott hotel on the way to Le Club, we seemed to become a part of a group of people that included Marion Cotillard and her friends. We all got into the lift, as I invisibly zipped my lips in an effort not to scream out how amazing she was in the movie I had just seen a few hours earlier. After some time in the club, and as she was on her way out, I finally did convey my gratitude for her performance, and got a smile from that beautiful petite face. Below is the pic MJ managed to snap before cameras were told to be put away.
