Film Review - Titane (2021)

Back in 2016, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau shook the entire landscape of cinema with her feature-length debut coming of age horror film Raw.

If however you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard of or seen the shocking and downright polarising Raw, the film follows a young woman in her first year of veterinary school when she develops a craving for flesh after tasting meat for the first time.

Ducournau‘s debut film infamously gained worldwide attention after its premiere at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 caused several viewers to receive medical attention after allegedly fainting due to the film’s graphic scenes of cannibalism.

Since the incident at TIFF, Raw was met with universal acclaim from moviegoers and film critics alike, citing it as a rich, complex body horror coming of age tale that juxtaposes its humanist themes to the utmost extreme. A recent edition to the now somewhat side-lined New French Extremity movement.

Fast-forward to 2021 at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival, Julia Ducournau returns with her sophomore feature-length film Titane where it (accidentally and prematurely) won the highly coveted Palme d’Or after its world premiere. Its worth noting that Ducournau is only the second female director to have won the award, after Jane Campion won back in 1993 with The Piano.

In the aftermath of the film and filmmaker’s success came a tsunami of reviews and opinions from viewers and critics citing Titane as one the “wildest” and “most fucked up” films of that year. At least in the UK, the marketing campaign leading up to the theatrical release of Ducournau‘s second feature-length film was delicately handled in the way that you were drawn into the potential of this films insanity without knowing much at all. The teasers and trailers revealed an inadequate amount of the overall product. The bulk of buzz generated for the film was through what had already been established by those fortune enough to catch it at various film festivals around the world. Going into the film for the first time during its theatrical release in early January 2022, I had no clue what to expect other than it would be one hell of a ride just as Raw ended up being.

Starring Agathe Rousselle in her feature-length acting debut, Titane focuses on Alexia, a young woman who has a titanium plate fitted to her skull after being injured in a childhood car – embarking on a bizarre and unpredictable journey involving her fetish for cars. The film also stars veteran French actor, Vincent Lindon and Raw lead and continuing collaborator of Ducournau, Garance Marillier.

Opening with a display on how a much younger (and very irritating) Alexia sustained the titanium skull plate after a car accident involving her and her father, the prelude to Titane swiftly concludes with Alexia shunning her parents and embracing the very car involved in the crash with a passionate kiss.

Years later as an adult, Alexia works as a showgirl at a motor show. Dancing at muscle car events across the country, Alexia harnesses her psychological and physical attachment to automotive machinery to exhibit eroticism for her spectators. Alexia’s mechanophilic bond to the car she performs upon gradually leads to her having sex with it and eventually becoming pregnant. And after a series of horrific and unexplained crimes, she decides to go on the run, assuming the identity of a young boy who disappeared ten years earlier. By cutting her hair, taping down her breasts and increasingly pregnant belly, breaking her nose and pretending to be someone else, Alexia is collected from police custody by fire captain, Vincent (Lindon) who believes her to be his long-lost son, Adrien.

Much like the deeply embedded and entwined themes of Raw, what follows in Titane isn’t the straightforward second Cronenbergian body horror picture show from Ducournau at all. It is something much more complex, much more daring and much more exploratory, often not giving you the conclusive answers you’re looking for.

Alexia’s assumed identity as Adrien and her experience with pregnancy turns Titane from a gruesome and violent horror thriller into a elaborate, audacious and often a comical yet tender transgender allegory as well as genre-bending look on the physical and mental damage of pregnancy, female desire and toxic masculinity.

Living and working at the fire station alongside the overprotective, blissfully ignorant father Vincent and his all-male firefighting squadron, Alexia has to replace her overtly sexual femininity for masculinity. By binding her body into the shape of a male body, Alexia must perform to a new but very different male audience that is rampant in testosterone and incessant laddish banter. Unable to escape the female body that continues to change with the pregnancy, Adrien’s masculinity slowly dwindles and thus begins a complicated tug of war with his prior identity as Alexia.

Amidst its transgressive and unruly themes, Titane is dynamically and vigorously led by Agatha Rousselle and her multi-layered portrayal of Alexia – a young woman who wrestles endlessly between the pains and pleasures of the human body. Appearing only in minor roles prior, Rousselle undoubtedly has a bright and glittering career ahead of her after this profoundly outstanding and remarkable performance. Vincent Lindon too is a marvel! As an overly emotional and overbearing ageing fire captain who abuses steroids to preserve his body to its fittest, Lindon showcases depth and range to his character that is almost infinite. Ducournau alumnus Garance Marillier has a third (but minor) outing as a character named Justine, with Raw coming before and the short Junior before that.

Of course, both Rousselle and Lindon wouldn’t have given these iconic and covetous performances if it wasn’t for Ducournau‘s versatile and polymorphic screenplay. With Raw and Titane now under her belt, it is impossible to deny that she is one of the most talented, provocative and original filmmakers currently working today. Whatever she does next, she will have a enormous following from both avid spectators and its critics.

Returning from Raw in his second collaboration with Ducournau, is film composer Jim Williams. And rather surprisingly, Williams‘ score for Titane is less flamboyant and less dominating than prior work. In his score for Raw, the compositions were largely playful and whimsical. With the exception of a few more menacing numbers, Williams painted a balanced mix of both sugary and sour through acoustic and orchestral arrangements. Titane however is predominately spacious and minimal. In each short composition comprised of light industrial soundscapes and creeping drums, there is room to allow the emotional complexity of each scene from Ducournau‘s film to breathe and carry out its message. It is most definitely a change in pace and standard for Williams but one that is positively welcomed.

Courtesy of music supervisor Guillaume Baurez and his implementation of music from various artists and musicians, the music within Titane also plays a vital role in creating the zestful energy of each scene. For example, as Alexia walks out towards the very masculine, vintage flame decal Cadillac lowrider, The Kills‘ guitar-heavy and drum machine-sequenced “Doing It to Death” plays very brashly in the background before Alexia performs an erotic dance on the bonnet of the car…or the hood if you’re American. Another key scene in Titane that features music outside of its score is a touching moment between Vincent and Adrien as father and “son” dance among their firefighting crew in a neon-lit bar whilst Future Island’s “Light House” sweeps through slow motion sequence. But perhaps the two best and most unforgettable uses of music within Titane are Romanger’s “Crap on My Mind” and Lisa Abbott’s rendition of “Wayfaring Stranger”. Romanger’s heavy-hitting hardcore techno gabber cut (which criminally is yet to be officially released into the world), soundtracks the burly, muscle-bound segment during the machismo mosh in the company of the firefighters and pummels your sight and hearing as you witness Adrien tussling in the troop to assert his dominance. Lisa Abbott’s slowed-down rendition of the well-known American folk song which quickly follows changes the mood and tempo dramatically. Adrien climbs on top of one of the fire engines and begins to slowly and seductively move his hips, gently caressing his body, weaving in and out of whether he is Adrien or Alexia, leaving his co-workers dumbfounded and perplexed at his sensual behaviour.

With Titane there is a heck of a lot to unpack. I believe it to be an extreme body of work that will require a handful and multiple rewatches to fully understand and appreciate the pluck of what it conveys on more than a basic surface level. Having experienced the misbehaving, mischievous and titillating exercise twice now, I can confidently say that
there is still a gravity to which I am still figuring out to fully explore. The hybrid genre piece that handbrakes turns its way through horror, thriller, comedy and drama is a labyrinthine that will shock you, disgruntle you, tickle you and hopefully, most importantly, offer escapism you can’t find elsewhere in the mind-numbing everyday of modern-day cinema.

Titane lives up to and surpasses the “totally messed up” and “really, really, really crazy” hype that clouds over its actual smart and savvy subject matter. Ducournau’s balls to the wall vision and masterfully-executed artistic delivery is something that will be revered for many, many years to come, making her one of today’s greatest filmmakers and contributors to transgressive cinema.