‘You poor thing. You poor poor thing…’
French director Julia Ducournau caused a stir with her 2016 cannibal movie Raw. That film was bold, exciting and utterly unique. Titane is certainly unique, and it’s definitely brave filmmaking, but I’m not convinced it’s any good…
Following a catastrophic car accident in her childhood, Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) has developed a sexual obsession with cars. When this goes too far one heady evening, Alexia sets out on a murderous rampage which results in her adopting the identity of a young boy that had gone missing a decade earlier. Vincent (Vincent Lindon), the boy’s father, insists that Alexia is his boy.
A suitably deranged premise and one that is executed with plenty of style and visual flair. Taking her cues from classic David Cronenberg movies, Ducournau utilises some pretty gruesome body horror in order to sell her fable about unconditional love and childhood trauma. Rousselle gives a tortured and nuanced performance in the main role, and Lindon’s grieving father is a complex and compelling cinematic creation. Despite some top notch acting, however, Titane is simply too odd, too abstract to be really enjoyable. Whilst Ducournau should be applauded for refusing to take the easy way out, this is an off putting and difficult to love movie that wraps its fairly simple message in layers of subtext and ghastly scenes of unforgettable body horror.
Despite winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Titane didn’t quite work for me. A swing and a miss.