Released: October 2021
Director: Julia Ducournau
Run Time: 108 Minutes
Rated R
Distributor: Neon
Genre: Horror/Thriller?..I don’t know?
Cast:
Vincent Lindon: Vincent
Agathe Rousselle: Alexia
Garance Marillier: Justine
I like to pride myself on my ability to determine which genre certain films fall into. Some are pretty obvious to the untrained eye like Evil Dead, Star Wars, or Star Trek. If it’s horror, it can be pretty obvious. If it’s science fiction, it’s not always as obvious, but you can tell when something falls into that category. Very rarely do I come across movies that not only defy expectations, but they defy description. If you were to show me a movie like Oldboy, I could tell you that it’s a dark thriller bordering on horror, which isn’t far from the truth. Then you have a movie like The Impossible, which is a disaster movie on the surface, but is actually a very human drama at its core. Then you have a movie like Titane. For the first time in my life, I don’t know how to classify a movie like this. Was that on purpose? I don’t have a clue. Well, let’s have a gander at Titane.
The story of Titane follows Alexia, a young woman who was in a car accident when she was a child. That accident ended up with her having a titanium plate installed in her head. As an adult, she works for a local car show as a stripper with a fetish for cars. After a night at work, she’s approached by an obsessive fan, who she ends up killing. She goes back inside to shower when she hears a noise coming from the show’s main floor. The car that she’s been…”dancing” on seems to have come to life so she has sex with it. Later, she finds out that she’s pregnant from the car, so she commits several murders, when one witness manages to escape, so she goes on the run. She discovers that a child had gone missing ten years prior, so she assumes his identity. Look, I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to movies, I have to tendency to go for the really weird shit. There’s a certain level of creativity that comes from these kinds of movies that you really don’t see in the mainstream side of things. I’ve seen crazy shit from Japan, Korea, Ukraine, and Russia. When it comes to crazy, there’s nobody like the French, and I don’t mean that as an insult. Their sensibilities are a bit different from ours, but they’ve put out some really outstanding stuff. But, they’ve also put out some really disturbing stuff like Martyrs and Inside. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, is that you never out-French the French. Their horror, action and arthouse movies are in a league of their own. The story in Titane is so off-the-wall bonkers that it really defies description. Is it a good story? I…think so. I’ve never seen anything like this before, so it’s hard for me to put it into words. It’s definitely a sexually-charged film no matter how you look at it, but is it a horror movie? Or is it some kind of erotic thriller? I think the answer is yes.
Let’s get the cinematography out of the way, first. This is a stunning movie. The shots are wide and incredibly beautiful. The colors really stand out and everything is easy to see. The effects and gore are really outstanding, even if the gore isn’t the traditional kind. This is kind of a body-horror movie, so you see Alexia’s transformation have a deteriorating effect on her body the longer the movie goes on. The acting in this film is outstanding. Vincent Lindon plays Vincent, the captain of a nearby fire brigade whose son went missing and Alexia is impersonating. This guy is definitely damaged as he’s constantly injecting himself with steroids to regain the kind of strength that he used to have when he was younger, but it’s causing problems. Agathe Rousselle is the real star of this show, however. Her character isn’t particularly likable, as she’s a murderous psycho that has very little regard for human lives, even those of her parents. Usually, when a movie has a main character that is as unlikable as Alexia, that movie did something wrong with the writing, but HERE? The character’s inability to connect with other human beings is at times tragic, but strangely amusing at the same time. She does some pretty terrible things, but by the end of the movie, I think she finds some kind of redemption. Again, this movie is damn strange that my interpretation could be completely off the mark. It doesn’t give you straight answers and deliberately leaves the audience hanging in certain places. That approach could and has turned a lot of people off of this movie. Going back to Agathe, this is her first movie, and she absolutely knocks it out of the park. The things that the director has her do is bonkers, but she gives a 100 percent, and that is incredibly admirable. I honestly can’t wait to see where Agathe’s career takes her.
There are some negatives in this movie, however. While the acting is top-notch, there’s not a single likable character in the movie. I don’t know if that’s on purpose or not, but I’ve found myself not feeling particularly sympathetic to any of the characters in this movie. That is definitely the fault of the writing. Also, the fact that this movie defies description makes it very hard for me to recommend it on any particular level. There are some pretty disturbing sequences in here that are definitely going to unsettle a lot of people. Some of the ideas put forward are so damn strange that it’s hard to take them seriously. Maybe the fact that this is a kind of an arthouse flick makes it unapproachable. I can see a lot of people taking a look at the film’s poster and saying, “Nope. Not for me.” That’s probably going to be the case for a lot of people. Everything about this movie, including the ending is batshit crazy. So, do I recommend this movie? I honestly don’t know. It’s definitely one-of-a-kind. I’ve never seen anything like Titane before. Because of that, I find it really hard to give a solid recommendation of any sort. You need to be the really curious kind of audience to appreciate what this movie’s going for. Do I hate the movie? Oh, hell no. Yeah, the movie’s extremely bizarre, but that’s kind of why I appreciate it. Do I like it? I’ll have to watch it a few more times before I can give a definitive answer on that, but as a piece of art, this is remarkable and I have to give credit to director Julia Ducournau for having the guts to make something so outrageously strange. What I will say, is that this movie’s going to stay with me for quite a while. There’s quite a bit to unpack. Far more than I’ve put into this review. Is it for everybody? No. Absolutely not. It will gain an audience, much in the same way that Martyrs did. French film-makers, man. So unpredictable.