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Last year, in my review of Anonymous Animals, I discussed the movement of New French Extremity (NFE) and its impact on the horror community. Lying dormant throughout the 2010’s, Anonymous Animals seemed to spark a return of the provocative French horror scene. Cut to this year, and NFE is all but back with a vengeance with the announcement that France’s Julia Ducournau’s sophomore body-horror film, Titane, had won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival. We are used to horror films being snubbed by the Academy, so imagine the collective surprise when one snagged, arguably, the top film prize in the world. On top of that, Ducournau is the second woman in history to win said award, so on all fronts, Titane is a landmark. So, what in particular about this film impressed the international market, and sparked audience fainting during its North American premiere?  SPOILERS!!! Alexia, played by Agathe Rousselle is a motor showgirl living the party life when she’s not moonlighting as a serial killer spreading panic through Southern France. She is emotionally detached from a young age, after a car accident leaves her fitted with a titanium plate in her skull, and a very nasty scar. Alexia only seems to feel alive among the very machines that caused her trauma, while keeping everyone else in her life at a distance. However, when a would-be victim escapes a massacre at a house party, Alexia is forced to burn all traces of her life away and go on the run. Desperate to avoid capture, Alexia pulls a "Gone Girl" and alters her appearance; cutting her hair, breaking her nose, and binding her torso down to resemble a missing teenage boy from a ten-year old cold case. Her gamble pays off as the boy’s father, Vincent, played Vincent Lindon, accepts the con and takes the seemingly mute, androgynous Alexia in as an apprentice at his fire station. But the clock is ticking on the one secret Alexia can’t run from, a pregnancy forged between her and the one thing she truly loves. She carries a potential abomination of flesh and metal.  The biggest challenge for a horror film can be taking a concept that on paper sounds a little ridiculous, but then makes you squirm at the idea of it. Ducournau accomplishes this by trimming most of the expository fat from the first third of the film. Titane is definitely more about the experience than the story. Well at least not one character’s story. What we think will be a Kafka-esque hybrid of Christine crossed with Cronenberg’s Crash, completely blindsides you by basically jumping into another movie, where at times you forget what you signed up for. Only to stun us again by moments where we witness progression of the main character’s metamorphosis. On the casting side, Agathe Rousselle literally bursts onto the screen in her feature debut, where she’s tasked with the challenge of playing, conceivably, one of the most horrid original characters in recent memory. At first, we are presented with a cold emotionless killer seemingly in control, only to see Alexia emotionally devolve into a terrified and confused wreck as she’s ironically drafted into a job where she has to save lives. This is also balanced with the detailed physical prosthetics Rousselle has to wear as her character’s pregnancy accelerates. Not many actresses would shave their head and be this vulnerable out of the gate. In the other corner is French acting veteran, Vincent Lindon, who all but steals the show as a complex character also named Vincent. He is an emotionally defeated man, grappling with steroid abuse as a means of preserving his physically commanding appearance among his crew, yet leaving him struggling to let his emotional guard down. It’s a complex and tragic performance that we are all the more sympathetic to knowing that he’s being conned, but the two performers share enough chemistry to keep you glued to the screen.  On the technical side, Titane boasts some amazing shots from cinematographer, Ruben Impens, who previously worked with Ducournau on Raw. An easy standout of the film, is the impressive long take that opens the film proper, where the camera tracks, glides, and cranes through a car show, all set to Doing It to Death by The Kills. This quite literally seduces you into a world that’s about to get messed up. If this film couldn’t reference Cronenberg enough, Ducournau pretty much has her bases covered with collaborators, as most of Raw’s main crew are back for this film, and after seeing the results, she’s probably not going to change this roster any time soon. So, does Titane deserve the Palme d'Or? Even though it’s not my call, the film is expertly shot, paced, and scored. And on top of that, it’s an original story where you genuinely care about a character who is already established to be far beyond redemption. So Titane is able to succeed at being a great film outside of its genre, while still managing to find humor here and there to balance it out (not too many films in the movement go for levity). With that being said, as far as horror films go, I haven’t squirmed and cringed this much in a theater in a very long time, and I was able to get that NFE gut punch with a big screen crowd. Go see it! See it wherever it’s playing near you for max experience. Spot the Raw cameo, and support this moment in horror history. Oh, and for whoever needs to hear this, GET AN OIL CHANGE!!! Follow HorrOrigins on Social Media
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