Marion Cotillard Discusses Her Awkward Death Scene In The Dark Knight Rises

French actress Marion Cotillard (Inception, Assassin’s Creed) has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in 2007’s La Vie en Rose. Yet,whenever someone brings up her performance in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), they inevitably point out her awkward death scene — like it’s a red dot on a white cashmere sweater.

While promoting her new movie Allied, which had an $18 million opening at the North American box office this past weekend, Cotillard commented on the overwhelmingly negative response Talia al Ghul’s clunky death has received.

“We’re all in the same boat, and if sometimes it gets out of control, then everyone is involved,” Cotillard told Allocine (translated from French to English). “Sometimes there are failures, and when you see this on screen, you’re thinking: ‘Why? Why did they keep that take?’ But either you blame everyone or nobody. But I thought people overreacted, because it was tough to be identified just with this scene. When I’m doing the best I can to find the authenticity in eveyr character that I’m playing, it’s tough to be known just for this scene.”

A clip is then shown of her appearing on a French TV show, participating in a humorous rap battle and her opponent pokes fun of that scene: “The only thing worse than your rap is your death in Batman.” With an uncomfortable smile, she can only say, “That sucks!”

“Yes, it’s important to know how to laugh about this, and also, there are worse things in life,” she continued. “Even if there are things that can hurt you. But I wasn’t really affected by this. I just though the reaction was disproportionate, and it helps to laugh about it.”

The Dark Knight Rises is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act. But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

The cast featured Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman.

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It was directed by Christopher Nolan, based on a screenplay he wrote with his brother, Jonathan Nolan.