Titane

From the opening scene, Titane continuously doubles down on its own outrageous absurdity until it suddenly pulls back. You go from watching a thriller, to body horror, to something that has a lot to say about what it means to be family. Specifically, what it means to be family in action, not just by blood or oil. Titane somehow addresses gender fluidity, the role of parents to support and accept, the male ego slipping as bodies and testosterone age away, and the opportunity to choose a family not given to you by birth all while bombarding the screen with gore and squirm inducing violence. You find you cannot look away from these disturbing images partly because of how beautifully Titane presents them and partly because they all have something to say. Even though the film may retreat too far from its own deliriousness in the second half, it comes speeding back just in time for a finale that will have you guessing until its last push. Strap in because Titane is one hell of a ride.

Not since David Cronenberg's CRASH has Cannes seen as 'auto'-erotic a film as Julie Doucurnau's TITANE. And, despite some controversy with each, both movies got Jury Awards (TITANE the Palme D'or).

After a childhood flashback leaves Alexia (played as an adult by Agathe Rousselle) with a metal plate in her head. The 30ish woman is now a dancer at a strip club where the ladies gyrate with automobiles (and, if there's something that eclipses a man's fancy more than girls and cars - it's girls AND cars). A bizarre late night S&M encounter leaves Alexia pregnant -- and with an increasing penchant for violence and aggression. Doucurnau (RAW) doesn't flinch from showing the sex and brutality in all it's grindhouse glory. The movie provocatively begs the question of whether it's any less exploitative if it's directed by a woman.

After this savage (overly so) opening*, Doucurnau's script (with "consultants") abruptly changes gear when Alexia comes into contact with Vincent (Vincent Lindon), a fire chief of a special fire fighting unit. He takes Alexia under his protection and becomes a father figure to her. Vincent has severe issues of his own, and their relationship becomes a symbiotic one, however peculiar it may be. Rousselle and Lindon play off each other well here and their bond becomes as believable as this strange tale can become. More to the point, it becomes quite moving in its own perverse manner.

Doucurnau's movie isn't just interested in the standard horror tropes, as it confronts head on gender identity, sadomasochistic relationships and the fetishizing of women's bodies. Genre fans will see parallels to such earlier films such as Cronenberg's THE BROOD, DEAD RINGERS and RABID (along with the aforementioned CRASH). BLADE RUNNER 2049, UNDER THE SKIN, THE DEMON SEED and last year's PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN are also evoked (the latter, of course, a coincidence of timing). The story-telling isn't always cleanly nor coherently told, but, it accumulates a certain power.

TITANE is certainly not your typical Cannes Awards winner, nor your standard horror film, but Doucurnau has created her own disturbing vision of the intersection of sexual politics and what it means to be human in this age of rapidly accelerting advances in bio-medical technology.

*there were walkouts in the theater.

I think there is no point in trying to judge or rate this film. Even though I am doing it in order to post something. It's as if the Wario version of Kill Bill went on a date with Lars von Trier. Then they went to a club, met Cronenberg, Lynch and the Toxic Avenger and they all took Ketamine. I would call it a masterpiece but I have a little issues about the violence. I can accept it, because it's art. But where does it stop? It is a disturbing film and I liked it. This is a thing people will talk about for a long long time. Also I am confused now. In terms of how the narrative is unfolded it reminded me of dogtooth from Lanthimos. The shifting of elements of a narrative in a film and replacing them by something else. It's Dada. Is this only making sense to me ?

I don't really know what I just watched. It was incredibly weird, but nevertheless watchable. In fact, I might even go as far as to say it was mesmerizing.

I'm sure there were some really deep themes, of which I could glean only a handful. But maybe that's a lacking in myself. These themes - as far as I could make out - include love and loss, rage, psychosis, and identity. Even a slight hint of incest.

But there are still a couple of pretty pertinent things that remain a mystery. Big mysteries!

I would recommend this film to those who want to lose themselves in one woman's psychedelic / psychotic journey, or for those who enjoy analyzing and could possibly apply meaning to scenes and images that I don't think were included for fun, but which I can't work out.

Nevertheless, I would recommend people check it out - if only for the originality and creativity. It won't be for everyone. It starts off rather sedately and then gets deeper and deeper into the bizarre. Personally, I love cinema that pushes boundaries and dares to be different - even if it fails, which this one definitely doesn't.

So be brave. Try something new. Expect to be challenged, and perhaps even a little offended, and definitely expect to see something different.

And I can't sign off without congratulating the performance of the two leads - Agathe Rousselle and Vincent Lindon. Both did brilliant jobs, especially Agathe since this was her feature film debut.

The first 20 minutes or so of 'Titane' are about as off the wall bonkers as you'll ever see in a film. It got to the point where I was wondering if they were intending to keep that pace and insanity up for the runtime of the film. Things do settle down a bit from there on out (at least comparatively) but man that was a wild set up.

I felt I had a reasonably strong grip on what the film was going for, but I did watch a Youtube explanation video just to be sure. It was similar to what I thought but did point out a few things I had missed or misinterpreted. Beneath all the insanity there are certainly some layers of intelligence.

Agathe Rousselle in the lead role gives a quite incredible performance. Her transformation alone is stunning. But also the intensity and fascination she is able to attract is something this project couldn't have done without.

This is one of those extremely unique films that you will likely never see anything like again. I'd say it's not a film that is going to be to everyone's liking. But if you have the right mind-frame (and stomach) for it then give it a crack. Strap yourself in though, it's a bump ride. 7/10.