The major shock film of 2021 was this bizarre exercise in body horror from France’s Julia Ducournau, the closest thing we have to a female David Cronenberg. TITANE, which is reasonably entertaining in its cheerfully transgressive aesthetic, has been proclaimed a masterpiece by some (it was the unlikely grand prize winner at Cannes) and vastly overrated, it seems, by all.
The major shock film of 2021 was this bizarre exercise in body horror…
This, keep in mind, is from one who admittedly never found Ducournau’s previous feature RAW, which was supposed to be the major shock item of 2016, all that shocking. I doubt any veteran cult film buff will be too upset by it or TITANE, which is alleged to have caused mass fainting in movie theaters around the world.
…or TITANE which is alleged to have caused mass fainting in movie theaters around the world.
It begins with a little girl named Alexia surviving a car accident that leaves her with a titanium plate in her head. She grows into a sexually confused stripper whose major relationship is with the car in which she was injured all those years ago. So passionate is this courtship that Alexia is impregnated(!) by the vehicle, causing an inhuman something to grow inside her belly. She also develops a most unfortunate taste for mass murder and, after embarking on a killing spree that leaves several people dead, Alexia becomes a wanted woman. She shaves her head and brutalizes herself severely in order to render her features unrecognizable.
Alexia then hooks up with a steroid addicted fire captain named Vincent, whose long lost son Adrien she claims to be. Vincent goes along with this ruse, in a relationship that grows increasingly possessive, and not a little twisted, while all the while Alexia’s belly continues to swell.
The birth, when it finally occurs, is about average in the roster of cinematic monster births (meaning it will never displace those of HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, BABY BLOOD or ALIEN). Yet Ducournau, like many a horror filmmaker before her, delights in unflinching depictions of gore, mutation and violence, as in the scene in which Alexia beats herself up in a bathroom, with every special effects-enhanced blow presented as graphically as possible.
…yet Ducournau, like many a horror filmmaker before her, delights in unflinching depictions of gore, mutation and violence…
Obviously the sight of a woman torturing herself, and seemingly everyone around her, in horrific ways suggests any number of feminist readings (virtually all of which have been exhausted), especially given the cleverly utilized European art film overlay, marked by stately visuals, deliberate pacing and a narrative that flaunts its ambiguities and loose ends. Ducournau’s greatest gift may well be her ability to convince mainstream critics she’s onto something profound, in a film that’s essentially CRASH meets ROSEMARY’S BABY meets GONE GIRL.
None of this changes the fact that the murder scenes are pretty silly, accompanied as they are by patently unreal sound effects, and that the lead actors Agathe Rousselle (as Alexie) and Vincent Lindon (as Vincent) are strong but the supporting and bit players (such as a poorly played ground of sexist men on a bus) lack conviction. The same can be said for the final scenes, which close things out on a less-than-invigorating note, and (SPOILER ALERT!) never provide us with a good look at the mutant baby whose birth is given such prominence, a mistake Mr. Cronenberg would assuredly never make.
Vital Statistics
TITANE
Kazak Productions/Neon
Director: Julia Ducournau
Producer: Amaury Ovise, Jean-Christophe Reymond
Screenplay: Julia Ducournau, Jacques Akchoti, Simonetta Greggio, Jean-Christophe Bouzy
Cinematography: Ruben Impens
Editing: Jean-Christophe Bouzy
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Mariller, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cissé, Marin Judas, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello, Céline Carrère, Adèle Guigue, Thibault Cathalifaud, Dominique Frot