Julia Ducournau

I never thought to check if the director of “Titane” (2021) has any other films. Here was have a film that is five years older and with the same actress in the main part and in several over ways similar to “Titane”.

Justine goes to study at the veterinary school where her sister also studies and where I think their parents met. Ducournau makes a point of showing that the family is vegetarian. This is a point returning at the start of a very long hazing/welcoming which involves the eating of a raw rabbit kidney.

The film gets more and more bloody, more and more extreme and voyeuristic. “Grave” (in French by the way, the international title is “Raw”). Justine suffers a rash, develops a taste for meat which keeps growing.

The film is full of weird scenes, a type of “body horror”, sensual scenes and also a story of sorts. Just like “Titane” not for the faint hearted, but not yet as explicit as that other film.

It had been a while since I saw an ‘unconventional film’. So when I read about “Titane”, I figured I would go and see it.

“Titane” is not as weird as I expected. It is a difficult film to watch though. In the (French?) style of uneasy films such as those of Marina de Van (remember “Dans Ma Peau“?), Rémy Belvaux (“C’est Arrivé Près De Chez Cous” aka “Man Bites Dog”) or some of Fabrice du Welz (“Calvaire“), but mostly of films of Gaspar Noë, Ducournau comes with a heavy story, explicit ‘body horror’ and sex. You get it, not a film for the faint hearted.

We first see Alexia as a cold blooded and bored kid. We soon jump ahead with her being a strip dancer with obvious psychological problems which have turned her into a serial killer. At some point she decides to go into hiding and pretends to be the long lost son of fire brigade commander.

Alexia’s killings are already quite explicit, but the way Ducournau shows what Alexia and others do to their bodies (and those of others), will make many people turn away their eyes frequently.

Then there are some pretty weird elements to the story that not everybody will get their heads around alongside the fact that many things are left unexplained.

So, quite a masochistic kind of film to watch for sure. It is hard to say if it is really good. It sure is not a film to like. When you know your opinion about the directors and titles mentioned above, you will be able to tell of you want to watch “Titane” or not.