The demise of middle brow

There used to be a whole subgenre identified by that term of snide disparagement: middle-brow by which was meant: seeming to be artistic or meaningful or profound or controversial or intellectual, but designed to appeal to a mass audience and to reassure rather than to confront of provoke. We don't see the term middle-brow often any more, but we could resurrect it to describe Rust and Bone, a perfectly OK movie with many strengths, but not at bottom built on cheap theatrics and false sentiments, and despite its strengths it would no doubt be taken a lot less seriously if it weren't filmed in French, and in France. But there are strengths: it's a pretty engaging though familiar story line (if too long a story): petty criminal (Belgian) drifter and his young son leaving home for unknown reasons crashes with semi-estranged sister in southern France; meets beautiful if troubled young woman (M Cotillard), she gets grievously injured and loses both legs below the knee, he begins a friendship with her that blooms into a romance - through which they both get what they need, she realizes that she need not always be defined by her injury (and that she is still sexual and can enjoy sex), and he realizes that a relationship built on friendship is valuable and profound - he gives up (apparently) the toss-away sexual encounters that have been his life, and shows at last some devotion to his son as well. All very good to watch an agreeable - and Cotillard is excellent in this demanding part (with lots of help from digital imagery on her legs). Interestingly, it's yet another film about a streetfighter who goes pro or semi-pro - and it's hard not to compare with Silver Linings Playbook, Cotillard's Oscar rival, as a movie that touches many of the same notes of mutual redemption through relationship (and competition). At its heart, though, I think the film is phony: the many character, Ali, is a nasty guy and petty thief who would not be so easily won over to tenderness and love; Cotillard's character is confusing and inconsistent - at first she appears to be a tough young woman attracted to tough guys and rough scene (she's alone at a nightclub, dressed like a hooker, gets into a fight)  but we later learn she's an animal lover, tender, sweet, confident - in other words, her personality changes to suit the needs of the narrative. I admire the setting of the film - real people and their struggles just to get by, and a strong vote for workers' solidarity as a team of employees in a warehouse rise up against corporate spying, you'd never see that in the U.S. or in an American movie! - but the reality of the setting does not make up for the mushiness of the characters: despite its high and worthy ideals, the movie feels ultimately tendentious and saccharine, in other words, middle brow.