Almost There: Marion Cotillard in "Rust and Bone"
Monday, February 24, 2020 at 11:28AM 
Throughout the years, the Oscars' most polyglot acting category has been Best Actress, amassing twenty nominations and two victories for performances in non-English languages. Those winners, Sophia Loren (1961, Two Women) and Marion Cotillard (2007, La Vie en Rose), are also the two of the four women to nab more than one nod for acting in their native non-English tongue. That's not the only factor that makes Cotillard's awards history a strange affair. She's also one the very few actors to get attention from the four major precursors (BFCA, HFPA, BAFTA, SAG) for her work in "foreign language" films, a feat she accomplished twice. Strangely enough, it wasn't for the same two productions that got her the Academy's attention!
Marion Cotillard's take on Edith Piaf got nominated for everything and, in the end, conquered her a little golden man. Still, five years later she was royally snubbed, becoming only the second person to get those four precursor nominations and fail to enter the Oscar line-up. The film was Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone and the performance remains one of Cotillard's greatest achievements…
Despite being one of its protagonists, Marion Cotillard's Stéphanie, an obstinate orca trainer, is neglected by a screenplay that's more interested in the male half of its gritty romance. She doesn't appear until 15 minutes into the film, though it's one hell of an entrance. It happens in the middle of a brawl at a bar that Matthias Schoenaerts' handsome asshole works at. The camera looks down and finds the legs of a woman who's been thrown to the ground. Soon we see her face, blood coming out of her nose and her expression set in an ugly vision of hostile disdain. She may have been knocked down, but there's still fight inside of Stéphanie, who's always quick to dismiss offers of help, even when she needs it.
Considering some of the overwrought twists of Rust and Bone, it's fascinating to see Cotillard refuse to play to the audience's sympathies. Her Stéphanie is no sensuous protagonist or weepy heroine, but an abrasive creature. She's a feral cat, angry and beautiful, ready to draw blood from whoever comes too close. Her eyes shine with contempt and there's a sense of trepidation to how she holds herself, confident with a hint of defensiveness. The actress also knows when to hold back and resolve a scene with smart minimalism. See how she paints the entire history of a failed relationship through a disaffected stare and a biting line delivery. Nothing else is needed.
That said, these early moments of Stéphanie's story are fleeting, almost dismissible in comparison with what's to come. One day, while performing with her beloved killer whales, the animal trainer is the victim of an accident. Audiard shoots the violence with a detached abstraction, making it even more shocking when the scene cuts to the grisly aftermath - Stéphanie lying on a hospital bed, both her legs amputated below the knee. The way Cotillard plays the scene threatens to catapult the film into the realm of body horror, so visceral is her panic. She crawls and cries, imploding before our very eyes and, throughout this and following scenes of growing apathy, there's a sense of someone giving up on life; a light goes out behind her eyes.
It's from the foundation of this painful situation that Jacques Audiard builds one of recent cinema's grimiest love affairs, a melodrama with dirt smeared on its face. It starts with a call from Stéphanie who's alone, filthy with dry sweat and congealed frustration, A sporadic visit becomes a trip to the beach where the tired amputee smiles again and then new feelings blossom. There's the want for sex, which produces a shy smile when offered and reveals a pitiful shame on the part of a woman who before seemed so in control of her sexuality. There's also thirst for violence and for control, for the autonomy the aquatic tragedy took from her. Not that Cotillard ever allows us to pity Stéphanie. She almost roars at the camera, daring us to defy her, daring us to mellow towards this complicated person.
The extreme physicality of the performance makes it easy to dismiss some of Cotillard's finer choices, but we shouldn't. This is intelligent work, constructed from minute one with character consistency in mind. Cotillard never loses sight of Stéphanie's true self even as her life's shattered and rebuilt. The way the actress uses her body in early scenes, for instance, sets the stage for the trauma of the amputation. How Stéphanie constantly reacts with disgust towards weakness, even when she doesn't verbalize it, makes for a searing character detail when it's she who must be carried as an invalid. Better yet, is the way the actress solves some of the picture's frailties, making sense of an impossible love story and managing to transform Katy Perry's "Fireworks" into a bittersweet hymn of longing.
Even when her back is turned to the camera and she's dancing with a whale, Cotillard's performance is a miraculous thing, full of wonderment and human details drawn in jagged lines. Rust and Bone is a better film for having her in it and the Oscar line-up would have been improved by her presence too.
Reader Comments (27)
This performance is P E R F E C T
The question is: Who misses of those 5? The winner (Lawrence) is obviously out, but the easiest answers from a "What is Oscar Into" guess (Wallis or Chastain) WOULD weaken the category and the "non-winning qualitative raise up cut" (Watts) was never going to happen, because that movie symbolically marked a major, recent, real life tragedy. So the harsh asshole character from a freewheeling short story collection adaptation? Sorry, Marion, but we'll give you a makeup nom later.
I'm a huge fan of Two Days, One Night, but it feels odd she was Oscar-nominated for that but not for either this or The Immigrant.
I always a little resentful of her awards push for this performance, because I found Schoenaerts more impressive, and couldn't understand how he was getting nothing and he was getting nothing. The snub didnt bother me (as good as she is).
Claudio, thanks as always for the smart, incisive thoughts on Cotillard's extraordinary performance in this movie. It's preposterous that she wasn't nominated that year, and Wallis making the cut over her is certainly one of Oscar's biggest blunders. The intelligence, depth, and technique Cotillard brings to this performance is mind-boggling. To have seen her and Emmanuelle Riva, who gave the year's two best performances in any language, back-to-back in the Actress category, would have been deeply satisfying.
Interestingly enough, "neglected by a screenplay that's more interested in the male half of its gritty romance" is exactly how I'd describe Amour and Silver Linings Playbook.
Wallis' nomination for her non-performance was an insult to both Cotillard and Rachel Weisz in Deep Blue Sea. At least Emmanuelle Riva was recognized.
Looking back hers is the performance that resonates most,where is she??
Marion Cotillard just operates on an entirely different plane compared to other actors. The way she can imbue each line, gesture, and facial expression with so much RICH, lived-in history, complexity, and contradiction is unmatched.
Wallis and Watts had no place being nominated over Cotillard and Weisz.
<the only women to nab more than one nod for acting in their native non-English tongue>.
Off the top of my head I can think of Liv Ullmann and Isabelle Adjani, both with two nominations.
Marcos -- You're correct. Sorry, I had a bunch of lists of the non-English nominated performances and confused some of them. Loren and Cotillard are the only women to win and be nominated again for a non-English performance. I'll change that and I am incredibly thankful for your correction. Thank you.
Best actress of the decade.
Great piece - I still need to see this film!
If Marion was the second person to get the Big 4 precursor nominations and miss Oscar, am I right in thinking that Tilda Swinton a year earlier was the first?
kermit_the_frog -- Yes she was. Other people who have achieved this were Hanks in Captain Phillips, Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks, Adams in Arrival, Brühl in Rush, Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler and Chalamet in Beautiful Boy. I don't think I'm forgetting anyone. If I am, I apologize.
... and Dicaprio for "The Departed".
Jude -- Technically, DiCaprio in The Departed and Grant in Florence Foster Jenkins suffered this same fate. However, I consider their cases slightly different because they oscillated between being nominated for lead and supporting. Category confusion must have been a factor in both their Oscar snubs, which isn't the case for the other people mentioned.
Claudio - I imagined that's what you had un mind
:)
Oh, I loved her performance in that film. It was heartbreaking to watch at times but she also maintained a sense of dignity but also wasn't afraid to act mean towards others. Plus, it made me like that Katy Perry song much more than ever as Perry is one of the few pop singers right now that I like.
I love this movie and performance. I admire how unafraid she is of coming off unlikeable and I remember thinking how realistic it was for someone in her character's position to be so angry. I still think about her work here.
Regarding the nomination, I never really bought she was getting in because I was such a fan, and I do think that year's lineup was pretty strong, except for maybe Lawrence (I will never understand the appeal of that movie or performance). Even though she has an Oscar, Cotillard is definitely someone who should have more awards on her mantle. She's been in Cannes with this, The Immigrant, Macbeth, Two Days One Night, the Dolan film and she's never won there.
It's a shame see Marion being robbed for that stupid child named Qanything Wallis, for that boring and ridicule movie.
IT'S A SHAME I'LL NEVER FORGET!
@Peggy AMEN
Hands down one of the greatest performances of the past decade, and honestly should have won her the Oscar. It's a perfect performance, and I feel her shining moment. I mean, she's consistently incredible, but this...this is just beyond.
She was incredible in this—but she usual is. The snub hurt at the time but considering she already has an Oscar and wound up swooping in a few years later as a dark horse nominee and saving us from Jennifer Aniston being nominated for Cake makes it feel ok in the end. Plus, the only one in the lineup that I’d want replaced was the winner (JLaw) and there’s no way that would’ve happened. They went with interesting choices.
It’s a shame Rachel Weisz couldn’t have snuck in for The Deep Blue Sea, however. THAT was a performance that I really loved… beautifully in tune with the feel of the movie.
Julie Christie should've won in 2007 for "Away From Her." That is all
You almost feel that acting professors/teachers should nominate each Oscar acting category instead of actors themselves. God knows the outcry the world would have to endure had Marion’s acting been selected over QWallis. We can no longer appreciate each person’s acting triumph/achievement, but immediately go to identity politics.
Tim: Honestly, I'm not sure a group of acting professors wouldn't typically make worse choices. MOST of the orthodoxy on film acting is essentially grounded in stage acting, and I'm almost certain that a group of acting professors would absolutely lean EVEN FURTHER on that orthodoxy.
@Fabio Dantas Flappers: She was a child, have some decency and respect.
@Tim: While I agree that Cotillard deserved the nomination over anyone who actually got nominated that year, choosing to pick on a child actress of color who did a great job says a lot about you. Boo hoo the poor white woman didn't get nominated and you had a sad.