Among the rare times where they pick up a film before completion, Sony Pictures Classics have lassoed the North American, Latin American and Eastern European rights to Jacques Audiard’s Rust & Bone (Un goût de rouille et d’os), hence continuing their partnership with the French filmmaker after having distributed his last pic, A Prophet. Is the foreign film specialist looking to showcase their longstanding label in the Croisette in May? Despite a French release in October and a little added CGI that needs to be worked on, it certainly looks like it.
Gist: Co-written by Thomas Bidegain, this is an adaptation of Craig Davidson’s Rust and Bone (a short story collection) and centers around Alain van Versch. He is 25 years old and lives in the North. He has no money and has never had any. When you’re young and alone, money is not a problem. It becomes one when the girl with whom you have had a child places it in your hands. Now, obviously, Ali has a problem: his name is Sam, and he’s five years old. Running on and running out of ideas Ali calls his sister who lives in Antibes in the south. This is where the father and the child who don’t know each other will find shelter for the winter, in the basement of a house. Ali agrees with the song: misery is less painful in the sun. He does odd jobs: night watchman, bouncer … And it is in a nightclub, le Fever, that he meets Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard).
Worthy Noting: A love story with equal romance, mystery and thriller elements, this is most likely Audiard’s most expensive film to date.
Do We Care?: Listed at our number 10 spot among our Most Anticipated Films for 2012, this filmmaker is among the best in his trade when you measure the quality his his last threee pictures in: Sur mes lèvres (2001), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet.