"Non" to Hollywood

Film critic Robbie Collin describes director Jacques Audiard as anti-Hollywood in an article by The Telegraph. They sit on a balcony with a view of The French Rivera and talk about his new movie Rust and Bone (the article was written in 2012). The film follows the romance between a single dad who is trying to become a wrestler and a whale trainer who has just lost both of her legs. The title describes all of the physical and metaphorical violence throughout the film.

"Rust and bone if the flavour of being punched in the face.  The blood filling the mouth, the splintered jaw.  When someone is punched in the face, you find out what they are made of," says Audiard when Collin asks him to explain the title.

The film is based on short stories by a Canadian writer Craig Davidson.  However, in the stories the two main characters never fall in love or even meet. In the book, the trainer is a man who loses one leg, but Audiard wanted to change the story.  He explains that "She had to be a girl and she had to lose both legs. This way, it becomes an erotic proposition. I cannot tell you why." He also explains that when the characters have sex they do not just lose their clothes, but have lost their limbs. He visited an orca show and researched the injuries various killer whale trainer's had suffered for the film.

Although the article seemed to end abruptly, I got more of a sense of Audiard as a director. The director constantly focuses on the small details of the films. In A Self Made Hero, the cuts that show the character at different stages of their lives furthers the complexity of storyline.  When old Albert says to the camera, "Did that look natural?" it makes the audience think about the authenticity of his words. Audiard dives completely into his projects in a hands-on way and always pushes for the unordinary.