Rust and Bone

You almost never get comfortable watching Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone. Between the back-alley mixed martial arts fights, the desperate sex fighting to fill a void of intimacy, and the aftereffects of amputation, it's a lot to get through. But primarily, the discomfort comes from Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) and Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), who are so uncomfortable with themselves that there's tension and loneliness in every expression on their faces. When they come together, it's not exactly like a dark veil has been lifted, though you sense misery truly does love company. Films that examine such raw emotions can get overbearing, and off-key performances are usually easy to spot. Not so here. Schoenaerts is either fighting to keep it in or fighting to get it out, and he manages that lit fuse really well. The headline here, though, as it usually is, is Marion Cotillard.