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Film REVIEWS
DRAMA RUST AND BONE (15) 120min ●●●●●
Expectations are high when it comes to a new Jacques Audiard film, for the simple reason that on the building evidence of his last three films Read My Lips, The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, he might be the best writer/director currently breathing. But the man does not play it safe, as is evidenced by the peculiar premise of this unclassifiable drama.
You didn’t know you wanted to see a film about the improbable flourishing of intimacy between a
bare-knuckle fighter and a legless orca whale trainer, did you? It sounds, after all a bit like a parodic take on the forced eccentricities common to a certain strain of self-important arthouse. What’s more, the film’s slow start, during which it circles its characters curiously without answering many questions about them, won’t necessarily hook you in. But what frustrates initially turns out to be productive: feelings for these odd characters, skilfully portrayed by Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, sneaks up on you just as it does on them, with the consequence that the film takes on an unexpected intensity (and a dark, winning sense of humour) as their relationship develops. The film pays the same careful attention to the development of their delicate line of connection as
it does to the sheer tedious heartbroken slog of adjusting to a serious disability. In the end it’s about how inseparable our physical lives – expressed here through dancing, swimming, fighting and sex – are from our emotional ones, and how the forging of emotional connections can defy the fragility of bodies. It’s perhaps less focused and perfect-feeling than Audiard’s best work, but its oddness makes it more thought-provoking. And it hardly needs to be noted that Cotillard, as a previous Oscar-winner playing a differently-abled person, is going to need to go serious frock-shopping before awards season hits. (Hannah McGill) ■ General release from Fri 2 Nov
DRAMA GINGER & ROSA (12A) 90min ●●●●●
The handholding, bath-sharing and general giggliness that kicks off Sally Potter’s 60s-set drama suggests a warm paean to the hermetic intensities of female friendship. But things decay quickly between Ginger (Elle Fanning) and her enigmatic ‘bestie’ Rosa (Alice Englert, beautiful daughter of Potter’s directing contemporary Jane Campion), as the looming Cuban missile crisis and the erratic behaviour of the adults in their lives throw certainties into disarray. Fanning is delightful, creating a character who’s compelling without being airbrushed or idealised; and Potter proves adept at capturing adolescent intensity without mocking it. Plot developments here are a touch predictable from the off, and a preponderance of actors playing against their natural accents creates a somewhat constructed feel. But the emotions feel bracingly real, due in no small part to the tone set by Fanning’s committed performance.
And while this is a far rawer work than might be expected by existing fans of Potter, it has a distinctive and frequently ravishing aesthetic of its own, aided by Robbie Ryan’s stunning cinematography, which combines flirtatious hand- held immediacy with gorgeous compositions that surface out of nowhere to stop the heart. (Hannah McGill) ■ Selected release from Fri 19 Oct.
APOCALYPSE Archives
URSULA MEIER, French-Swiss director of Sister, chooses the films she’d save in an impending apocalypse.
1 Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982) ‘This has to be saved as everything is in this one film: children, family, ghosts, love, war, history. This would be enough for me in the apocalypse - I wouldn’t even need food.’ 2 L’Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983) ‘In my family we watched a lot of films - Tati, Truffaut, Hitchcock, Welles - but when I saw l’Argent on TV with my sister (at 14) I was too young to really understand the story, but I was shocked by the cinematography, I saw the framing and I was fascinated by the editing. I was moved by the language of cinema and suddenly the world of film opened up in front of me and I saw the infinite possibilities.’
3 Wanda (Barbara Loden, 1970) ‘This is the only film by Barbara Loden and it’s amazing. It has everything I like about films: some Jarmusch, some Cassavetes, but with great strong female characters. When I worked with Isabelle Huppert (on my debut Home) I found out that I only saw Wanda because she re-released it in France, so it is thanks to her!’
4 The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978) ‘My first cinema experience was when I was 7 or 8, and a friend’s mother wanted to take us to see a kids film, but early on she realised a mistake had been made and we were in The Deer Hunter screen. She tried to make us leave but we wanted to stay and so we did. The shock of this film left a scar, but I was also more open after that to see something different.’
5 L’Ame Soeur (Fredi M Murer, 1985) ‘This was the first film I saw in Swiss German, my father’s dialect, and it was a masterpiece. It made me realise for the first time that a masterpiece could be shot in my home country and Sister is a homage to this film - a film about solitude and family.’ (Interview by Gail Tolley) ■ Sister is on selected release from Fri 26 Oct, see review page 69.
18 Oct–15 Nov 2012 THE LIST 71