Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: one of the Marvel stars in a gripping and moving thriller.
Do you only know Mark Ruffalo for his role as Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? So it’s time to discover another facet of the American actor’s talent with the excellent Dark Waters, directed by Todd Haynes.
Released in theaters in 2019, Dark Waters tells the story of Robert Bilott, a lawyer specializing in the defense of the chemical industries. Questioned by a farmer, a neighbor of his grandmother, he will discover that the idyllic countryside of his childhood is poisoned by a factory of the powerful chemical group DuPont, the region’s largest employer.
The result ? A necessary militant thriller, as gripping as it is subtle and moving, which manages to make clear and captivating an affair that is complex to say the least. Not to mention the accurate interpretation of Mark Ruffalo fighting against the system. In short, a great film.
It was Mark Ruffalo and the production company Participant who proposed Dark Waters to Todd Haynes, a year after Nathaniel Rich’s article on the subject was published in the New York Times Magazine. When the director discovered it, he was understandably shocked by this affair that Rob Bilott, a pugnacious lawyer, revealed despite himself.
“This material would prove complex to fictionalize”notes Todd Haynes. “Meanwhile, he pointed out the countless dishonest practices of large companies that have been breaking the law for several years – and continuing to do so.
Practices which remain terribly relevant socially and politically. If we immediately think of several talented directors to bring this project to the screen, Mark had thought of me without me being able to explain why.”
It should be noted, a funny anecdote, that Dark Waters marks the second film in which Mark Ruffalo plays a character rubbing shoulders with the du Pont family. In Foxcatcher, released in 2015, the actor played wrestler Dave Schultz, who was murdered by John Eleuthère du Pont, heir to the family played by an unrecognizable Steve Carell.
Tonight on Arte at 8:55 p.m.
Dark Waters: Robert Billot seen by Mark Ruffalo