By: Sam Wickerfield

Sam Wickerfield — Fri, 13 May 2016 11:05:41 +0000

The raves would lead one to believe that this is a masterfully made story of love and passion and growth, whereas actually it depicts a totally unbelievable relationship in which a seemingly intelligent woman constantly accepts mistreatment from a dull-witted, selfish, abusive jerk. His short-tempered violence and persistent indifference toward his 5-year-old son\’s welfare almost causes the boy\’s death; though his sister is providing him a place to live and taking care of his son, he is willing to do illegal work as a management spy on the employees of the market where she works and thus gets her fired. He is a womanizer so self-centered that he thinks it acceptable to ignore the woman he is having sex with to answer his cell-phone in media rez. The woman played by Marion Cotillard has the temerity to suggest to him, after he leaves her in the lurch at a bar and goes off with another woman, that perhaps it would be better if they did not relate to each other "like animals," but continues to accept his brutish behavior nonetheless. The filmmaker seems to find this acceptable behavior in a man; as all this leads to a less than credible last-minute personality change in which our man breaks down and whimpers to Cotllard that he loves her. Whereupon the three of them — brute, woman, and son — walk off into the sunset together.

Comments on: Review: Blood & Water Flow Freely In Jacques Audiard’s Beautiful & Moving ‘Rust & Bone’

By: Sam Wickerfield