While every frame of Ruben Impens’ slick and ultra-saturated cinematography leaves an impression, the chiaroscuro wide shot of a freshly showered Rousselle walking naked towards the eager car and dripping a wet trail of water onto the floor of the garage feels like the kind of movie image that might outlive us all. She prefers the company of a very special vehicle - one that calls to her from the darkness with its high beams. When one of those horny male fans refuses to take “no” for an answer in the parking lot after an event, Alexia does not take kindly to his actions. She wears her shaggy blonde hair so that the scar from her implant is still extremely visible on the side of her head, as if she wants the world to know about the metal inside her.Īlexia writhes around on muscle cars while horny male fans line up for selfies, but the pleasure seems to be all hers. Anyone who’s seen “Raw” will be cackling already.Ĭut to: The present, when Alexia is a terse and severe thirtysomething car model embodied by newcomer Agathe Rousselle (in an unforgettable performance that often evokes a gender-fluid take on the murderous vulnerability Scarlett Johansson brought to “Under the Skin”). “Watch out for any neurological signs,” the doctor warns her parents. He gets annoyed, takes his eyes off the road, and the next thing you know Alexia is at a hospital having a titanium plate surgically implanted into her skull. The first time we meet her she’s a pre-teen girl sitting in the backseat of her dad’s sedan and loudly revving her body like she’s a Ferrari. ‘The First Slam Dunk’ Review: Takehiko Inoue’s Anime Smash Is One of the Most Thrilling and Unusual Basketball Movies Ever MadeĪlexia’s parents never really fulfilled either end of that bargain - least of all her sleazy father, played by “Nocturama” director Bertrand Bonello (who serves up enough withering face to see all sorts of intimate sins behind his blank expression). Whatever you’re willing to take from it, there’s no denying that “Titane” is the work of a demented visionary in full command of her wild mind a shimmering aria of fire and metal that introduces itself as the psychopathic lovechild of David Cronenberg’s “Crash” and Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” before shapeshifting into a modern fable about how badly people just need someone to take care of them and vice-versa. During the second half, it becomes obvious that it’s both - that somehow it couldn’t be one without the other.įollowing the cannibalistic “ Raw” with another ravenous film that pushes her fascination with the hunger and malleability of human flesh to even further extremes, Ducournau has made good on the promise of her debut and then some. Neon releases the film in theaters on Friday, October 1.ĭuring the first half of Julia Ducournau’s “ Titane,” it’s hard to tell if you’re watching the most fucked up movie ever made about the idea of found family, or the sweetest movie ever made about a serial killer who has sex with a car, poses as the adult version of a local boy who went missing a decade earlier, and then promptly moves in with the kid’s still-grieving father. Despite telling an oddball tale of a serial killer with a sexual attraction to cars, many praised the film’s incisive take on maternity, chosen family, and gender fluidity.Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The movie caused something of a stir when it premiered on Tuesday, being described by the BBC as “the most shocking film of 2021” for its shocking depictions of sex, violence, and Cronenbergian body horror. Awarding the top prize, the Palme d’Or, to the French filmmaker Julia Ducournau for the psychosexual noir thriller Titane, it served as the final award announced in a delightfully chaotic closing ceremony that saw Lee accidentally announce the winner early. Tonight, this year’s jury, led by Spike Lee, made an equally historic decision to cap off a bumper year. Yes, there have been plenty of showstopping red carpet moments to write home about-from Bella Hadid’s Schiaparelli golden lungs, to Isabelle Huppert’s razor-sharp Balenciaga gown, to Timothée Chalamet and Tilda Swinton’s budding friendship and complementary tailoring-but equally exciting has been the selection of films premiering, with many critics agreeing it was the festival’s most impressive (and most lurid) showing in years. Over the past 11 days, the world’s attention has been firmly fixed on this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
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