Rust & Bone 15

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) finds himself with a five-year-old child on his hands. Sam (Armand Verdure) is his son, but he hardly knows him. Homeless, penniless and friendless, Ali takes refuge with his sister Anna (Corinne Masiero) in Antibes, in the south of France. There things improve immediately. She puts them up in her garage, she takes the child under her wing and the weather is glorious.

Ali, a man of formidable size and strength, gets a job as a bouncer in a nightclub. He comes to the aid of Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) during a nightclub brawl. Aloof and beautiful, Stéphanie seems unattainable, but in his frank manner Ali leaves her his phone number anyway.

Stephanie trains orca whales at Marineland. When a performance ends in tragedy, a call in the night again brings them together. When Ali sees her next, Stephanie is confined to a wheelchair.

Ali’s direct, unpitying physicality becomes Stéphanie’s lifeline, but Ali too is transformed by Stéphanie’s tough resilience. And Stephanie comes alive again. As their stories intersect and diverge, they navigate a world where strength, beauty, youth and blood are commodities - but where trust, truth, loyalty and love cannot be bought and sold, and courage comes in many forms.

From the acclaimed director of A Prophet.

Friday 2 November, 5.45pm screening will be introduced by Julia Dobson, Reader in French Film and Performance.

Please note: the screening at 11am on Monday 5 November is a Kino Bambino parent and baby screening.