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De rouille et d’os key art
De rouille et d’os movie poster

De rouille et d’os Budget

2012RDramaRomance2h 3m

Updated

Budget
$15,400,000
Domestic Box Office
$2,062,027
Worldwide Box Office
$25,762,027

Synopsis

Ali finds himself with a five-year-old child on his hands. Sam is his son, but he hardly knows him. Homeless, penniless and friendless, Ali takes refuge with his sister Anna 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 during a nightclub brawl. Aloof and beautiful, Stéphanie seems unattainable, but in his frank manner Ali leaves her his phone number anyway. Stéphanie 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, Stéphanie is confined to a wheel chair: she has lost her legs and quite a few illusions. 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.

What is the budget of De rouille et d’os?

"De rouille et d’os," a drama released in 2012, was directed by Jacques Audiard and stars Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts. The production budget was $15,400,000, placing it in the low-budget range for drama productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a drama production like this include:

  • Above-the-Line Talent: Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances.
  • Location Filming & Period Production Design: Authentic locations , whether contemporary or historical , require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period.
  • Post-Production, Color Grading & Score: The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone.
  • Filming & Locations: Filming started on 4 October 2011 and lasted eight weeks. Locations were used in Antibes, Cannes, Belgium, Paris, northern France, Liège and Brussels.

What were the major cost factors in De rouille et d’os?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "De rouille et d’os."

  • Above-the-Line Talent: Above-the-Line Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
  • Location Filming: Location Filming & Period Production Design is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.
  • Post-Production: Post-Production, Color Grading & Score is one of the primary cost drivers in drama productions of this scale.

How Does De rouille et d’os's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $15,400,000, De rouille et d’os sits in the low-budget range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

  • A Dangerous Method (2011): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $27,462,041
  • Ben-Hur (1959): Budget $15,000,000, Worldwide Gross $164,000,000
  • Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997): Budget $16,500,000 , Gross $67,711,748
  • Beyond Skyline (2017): Budget $14,000,000, Worldwide Gross $992,181
  • Away We Go (2009): Budget $17,000,000, Worldwide Gross $15,779,455

The median budget for wide-release drama films in the 2010s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

De rouille et d’os Box Office Performance

"De rouille et d’os" earned $2,062,027 domestically and $25,762,027 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $15,400,000, the film showed modest profitability in theatrical release.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "De rouille et d’os," that break-even threshold was roughly $30,800,000. With worldwide earnings of $25,762,027, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

  • Production Budget: $15,400,000
  • Worldwide Gross: $25,762,027
  • Net Return: $10,362,027
  • ROI: approximately 67.3%

At 67.3%, "De rouille et d’os" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.

De rouille et d’os Production History

Filming started on 4 October 2011 and lasted eight weeks. Locations were used in Antibes, Cannes, Belgium, Paris, northern France, Liège and Brussels. [Filming] Filming started on 4 October 2011 and lasted eight weeks. Locations were used in Antibes, Cannes, Belgium, Paris, northern France, Liège and Brussels.

Awards and Recognition

Nominated for 2 BAFTA 32 wins & 73 nominations total

  • César Award for Best Music Written for a Film
  • César Award for Best Editing
  • César Award for Best Adaptation

Critical Reception

The film was screened at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and received early positive critical reactions. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 82% based on 167 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Surging on strong performances from Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, Rust and Bone is as vibrant and messily unpredictable as life itself." Metacritic gave the film a rating of 73/100, based on 39 reviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did Rust and Bone cost to make?

The production budget was approximately $20,000,000. Why Not Productions and Page 114 financed the French Belgian co-production, with Sony Pictures Classics handling North American distribution following the Cannes Film Festival premiere.

How much did Rust and Bone earn at the box office?

The film grossed $2,071,433 domestically and $22,800,000 internationally, for a worldwide total of approximately $24,900,000. The strongest performance came in France, where the film grossed approximately $8,500,000 across its theatrical run.

Who directed Rust and Bone?

Jacques Audiard directed and co-wrote the film with Thomas Bidegain. Audiard had previously directed The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet (2009), which received nine Cesar Awards and an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Who stars in Rust and Bone?

Marion Cotillard stars as Stephanie, a killer-whale trainer who loses both legs in a workplace accident. Matthias Schoenaerts plays Ali, a single father working as a bouncer and bare-knuckle fighter. Their relationship anchors the film.

Is Rust and Bone based on a book?

Yes. The film adapts elements from Craig Davidson's 2005 short-story collection Rust and Bone, particularly the title story along with the story Rocket Ride. Audiard and Bidegain consolidated multiple stories into a single feature-length narrative.

Where was Rust and Bone filmed?

Principal photography took place primarily in Antibes and the surrounding French Riviera, with the killer-whale sequences shot at Marineland Antibes. The production used a combination of trained whales and CGI for the central accident sequence, which took several months in post-production.

What did critics think of Rust and Bone?

The film received strong reviews, with an 81% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 76 out of 100 score on Metacritic. Critics universally praised Marion Cotillard's lead performance and Audiard's restrained direction of difficult material.

Did Rust and Bone win any awards?

The film won nine Cesar Award nominations, with Matthias Schoenaerts taking Most Promising Actor. Marion Cotillard received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress, Drama, and the film won multiple critic-circle prizes including the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Did Rust and Bone win at Cannes?

The film premiered in Competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival but did not win the Palme d'Or, which went to Amour by Michael Haneke. Audiard had won the Grand Prix at Cannes three years earlier for A Prophet (2009).

Where can I stream Rust and Bone?

The film is available for digital rental and purchase on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Google Play. It has periodically rotated through the Criterion Channel and Mubi, fitting their international art-house catalogue strategy.

Official Trailer

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