Bastards

Sandra asks Marco to come back after her husband’s suicide and the family shoe business teeters on bankruptcy. He quits his oil-tanker captain job to support them, cutting ties with his distant life at sea. He recognizes that his sister Sandra and her husband bear responsibility for their debts and scandal, and that he had previously avoided involvement in the business.

Justine has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and self-harm and is hospitalized for internal injuries from sexual abuse. The doctors consider surgery to repair her damaged vagina, but Justine resists and wants to leave the hospital.

Marco relocates to an apartment in the same building as Edouard Laporte and begins an affair with Laporte’s younger wife, Raphaëlle, after helping their son Joseph with a bike tire. The affair heightens tensions within the family and foreshadows further conflict.

To cover creditors, Marco sells his flat, life insurance policy, and car. Sandra gives him their father’s handgun and suggests he may need it amid the mounting threats and deceit.

Sandra arranges a visit to a farm building used for the sex party where Justine was hurt. Marco pays the pimps Xavier and Elysée a large sum to let him into the building so he can look for clues and perhaps control the situation.

Marco finds a bloodied corncob and assaults Xavier in his fury. Later, two men attack Marco outside his apartment and injure his hand, escalating the danger surrounding him.

Justine escapes the hospital again and wanders naked in the streets. She hides with Xavier and Elysée, evading Marco’s search as he tries to locate her.

At an internet cafe, Xavier shows Marco images of Justine arriving at the sex club with Laporte. He confronts Sandra with the images, shouting about her involvement and deceit.

Laporte leaves Raphaëlle and takes Joseph; Raphaëlle comes to Marco’s apartment to claim that Joseph has been taken. Marco resists; a struggle ensues and Raphaëlle shoots Marco in the back, killing him.

Justine—still with Xavier and Elysée—drives through the countryside at night in a moment of seeming lucidity, then crashes into the woods. The crash leaves Justine seemingly dead and Xavier and Elysée injured; a man emerges from the woods and carries off Elysée.

Sandra receives a video in the mail and asks Justine’s doctor to watch it with her. The tape shows a sex party involving Laporte, Justine, Jacques, and a prostitute, with Laporte watching as Jacques molests Justine and uses the corn cob.

The revelations in the video pull the family further apart, exposing the manipulation and abuse at the heart of the crisis and leaving each member to confront the consequences of their choices.