[Rust and Bone] De rouille et d'os
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts/Marion Cotillard/Berry · Lanner Bouli Lanners
Publisher: France UGC Distribution
Running time: 122 minutes
★★★★
text _ Xi Pake
Jacques Ou Diya is now a director of the French line the most classic aesthetics of narrative, directed [I Heart Forgotten Rhythm] and [The Prophet] both made a very special personal interpretation of a typical Hollywood theme (the former even directly reproduced a Hollywood movie "Finger"), turning the typical American gangster theme into a personal The pure French taste of soul struggle. Similarly, [Rust and Bone] may be filmed as a real American sports inspirational melodrama in terms of plot. However, Oudiye has achieved a unique approach, completely different in form and content. Under the lens with halo, the focus is on ordinary people without any halo. This reality is also the most precious soul of the film.
A story without aura
[Rust and Bone] is adapted from the short story of the same name by Canadian writer Craig Davidson. The original novel tells the story of boxer Ali taking his son Sam to make a living. After a broken hand bone, he had no choice but to defect to his sister, and went to the underground to fight black punches. At this time, he met the killer whale trainer Stephanie. Then Stephanie was paralyzed in an accident and was brutally amputated. Ali became in love with Stephanie in the process of taking care of him. Odia wrote the script for the film himself. Although the story is still that story, the focus of the narrative has changed 180 degrees. In fact, if according to the idea of the original novel, the bottom boxer, for the sake of the amputee girl, has no hesitation in embarking on the road of black boxing, just to make money and support the family, the film will easily follow the inspirational Hollywood road like [Warrior], and get full The tear gas effect. But in fact, this is not what Odia wants, what he wants is a more real texture.
Unlike the novel, the secondary line of Underground Black Fist didn't appear until halfway through the film, and Ali did not choose this career because of life's force. In fact, he is more because of children's obsession with fighting. Although his previous job as a security guard did not earn much money, in the film he is like most French people, living a laid-back life. Stephanie has sufficient insurance claims, and is even willing to give Ali money to let him give up boxing. In addition to the struggle history of the bottom people, Odia's real use of pen and ink lies in the relationship between the characters' personalities and alienation in the film. As mentioned earlier, Ali is an out-and-out child, and even most of the time, he can remind the audience of those naive fathers who grew up but couldn't take responsibility in the Darnet Brothers movies. The Ali in the film is not as high as Tom Hardy in [Warrior], but just an ordinary person without the protagonist's halo. He was very sincere to Stephanie, and would never refuse or shirk. But at the same time, he naively insisted on his improper behavioral rules, and even in front of his sister, he would not curb his corrupt private life. He even forgot to pick up Sam from school and found a bunch of excuses for prevarication. Even the only thing that can be called kind in his life is to take care of Stephanie, a stranger with only one side, but even then he is still disappointing. Not only after going to bed with Stephanie, but also turning a blind eye to her love, and even leaving with a strange woman in the bar, leaving the sad Stephanie to tears. But because of the true and simple character of this character, it is difficult for anyone (including the character in the film and the audience outside the film) to blame him for his fault. All of this is due to his simple and direct character.
But in fact, the simple character does not make Ali's expression smoother, but it alienates him even more. Because of his weakness and inability to express, his love with Stephanie stayed in the sexual stage for a long time, and the inability to kiss is an obvious hint of the relationship between the two. But the only way to break this deadlock is to “derail” by hurting each other. At the same time, although Stephanie is physically disabled, her mind is obviously more healthy. In many cases, he was even more proactive and upward than Ali. In sex and love, she retained her bottom line at the beginning, and she broke the window paper between the two. On the contrary, because of his guilt, Ali finally chose to stay away from his family and lover and start over in a new city. Passive avoidance, it seems that all attempts to communicate will end in failure. Just like Stephanie looking at the killer whale through the glass, the animal does not understand its own situation or the harm it causes to the person who loves it. It just follows its own instinct, whether it is good or bad, this is completely In line with Ali's original state. All the drama takes place in the ambiguity that the two protagonists know but don't say, and it's as if they don't understand at all, so that this completely bloody story has a long and flowing expression.
Lens with halo
Although it is a similar subject, the film is obviously completely different from Dane’s minimalism that uses hidden style. Although Odia’s films have never had a recognizable and obvious style, he is good at finding the most effective way. The most eye-catching thing in this film is the overexposure lens under a lot of natural light and the obvious halo effect. This kind of treatment is extremely bold in such mainstream works. In the strong sunlight, the outlines of the two protagonists are completely blurred, and the lens also appears flat and lacks layers. But such an unprecedented scene successfully evoked the audience's thinking. In fact, such shots obviously have a direct relationship with the characters. Although they are hugging and playing in the ocean, they are blocked by this blurry light. In one of the scenes, Stephanie lay half-naked on the beach, almost uncovered, but the bright light made it difficult for the audience to see the outline of her ketone body, and Ali was full of fatigue, in fact, he did not really appreciate it. Stephanie's mutilated body. The artificial estrangement is actually the externalization of the psychological estrangement between the two. With the depth of the plot, the audience gradually discovered that this kind of halo treatment was gradually reduced until it disappeared completely, replaced by a large number of depth-of-field lenses. Towards the end, Ali found that his son had fallen into a glacier and finally received a call from Stephanie, which significantly increased the depth of the lens. This is also a hint of Ali's psychological changes. After his "innocence" finally caused irreparable harm to the people around him, Ali also completed his so-called "character arc". Each change in the depth of the lens symbolizes the different inner emotions of the characters.
Although the halo is beautiful, it is only an illusion of light. If the movie always hides behind a certain "style", it will eventually become a [double exposure] general MV, but the flip is entirely based on the blunt script lines. Odia is obviously more aware of narrative methods than ordinary art film directors, and knows how to change his narrative strategy when appropriate.
In addition to the big points, Odia also has perfect control over the details. A more typical example is his use of saliva songs. In fact, packaging movies with unpopular songs like Quentin is a relatively simple and effective way, because the audience has a fresh sense of such music, but the use of well-known saliva songs must have excellent control. Positive examples are undoubtedly the "Mouse Loves Rice" used by Jia Zhangke in [Three Gorges Good Man] and the "Those Flowers" used by Lou Ye in [Spring Wind Intoxicated Night]. Appear at special times to interact with the characters cleverly. The application of Katie Perry's song "Fireworks" in [Rust and Bone] is both. Compared with [Madagascar III], it is completely different with the same song with thousands of horses running wildly, and with the low-end style of passionate emotions. The two practical "Fireworks" in this film have amazing effects. Its first appearance was not a film soundtrack, but a part of the sound source that could be found in the scene, that is, the last whale training performance that paralyzed Stephanie. Just as the conclusion drawn from the experience of all audiences, this kind of performance in the zoo obviously uses rhythmic saliva songs like "Fireworks" as the background music, which is a setting that conforms to the scene and the identity of the character. By the time "Fireworks" appeared for the second time, Stephanie was paralyzed, and this time "Fireworks" became the voice in her brain. Because the audience was familiar with the song, she was able to react immediately. This is the song that appeared before. Therefore, without any screen flashback, the director can ignite the emotions of the audience by relying on the song alone. This is the best result of the three-party interaction between the song, the character and the audience.
Ending with suspicion
At the end of the film, Stephanie called Ali, who was in desperate situation. The two came together again at the most difficult time and formed a family of three. Ali also gradually improved, his career was successful, and even won the championship. Gold belt. This seems to be the perfect happy ending, but in fact it hides Odia's deeper thinking. Just as the fellow melodrama master Glass Seck always shoots dog-blood plots, and finally brings the hero and heroine together in an incredible way, at the end of the reunion, it is more to arouse the audience's suspicion. Syk always arranges a lot of exaggerated tones and extremely literary lines in the movie, which always warns the audience that this is just a movie. Although the market requires him to film a happy reunion, he is a skeptic at heart. This happens to be exactly the same as Odiya's creative ideas. Under overexposure, the audience can clearly realize the existence of the director, and this is where the doubt begins. And before the flash of the last reunion, it seemed completely incompatible with the previous narrative. In fact, in a scene before the end, Odia deliberately edited the scene of Sam's coma. The subtext is that all this beauty is just a boy’s illusion. He hopes that Stephanie and his father can come together, and that everything will be better. Go on, but this is completely impossible to happen. Although they can fall in love briefly, a naive man and a disabled person who cannot take care of themselves can hardly have a real long-lasting life, whether it is physical or spiritual, and beautiful love will only appear in dreams.
In fact, the whole movie is like an illusion like a light spot, and beauty always comes with conditions. If Stephanie does not have a disability, then she and Ali will be people in two worlds. She will never call Ali, and the two will never have even the slightest emotional intersection. Only by relying on an impossible disaster, different talents will come together, this is actually the most desperate argument. But such an explanation is not absolute. Some viewers will find beauty in the halo, and healing and freshness in the ending. How to see and interpret is always a two-way power, but Odia, as a director, is valuable enough to be able to make movies that can be made by different people.
(Originally published in "Watching Movies")
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