Titane

Movie Name: Titane
Year of Release: 2021
Director: Julia Ducornau
Starring: Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Lais Salameh, Mara Cisse, Bertrand Bonello, Myriem Akheddiou, Marin Judas, Diong-Keba Tacu, Adele Guigue, Dominique Frot
Genre: Drama, Horror
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review

Following her auspicious debut with "Raw", writer/director Julia Ducornau presented "Titane" at the Cannes Film Festival of 2021, where it went on to win the Palm D'Or. The narrative focuses on the journey of Alexia, whom we first notice as a child having some friction with her father while on a car drive. Due to her raucous behavior in the car they suffer an accident which results in her having to get a titanium plaque on her skull. 10 years later Alexia is grown up and is working as a showgirl/dancer on a car/motor show. She has a series of fans who reach out to her for autographs. One of them however, stalks her after the show is over and chases her to her car. He admits his obsession over her, and while they start kissing, she kills him using her hair pin. As she goes back in the building to take a shower, she ends up having sex with the Cadillac that was on the showroom. Alexia goes back home, where she lives with her parents, and later on goes to a house party where Justine, her coworker from the car/motor show, is also in attendance. They start making out, but Alexia's violent streak turns off Justine. Alexia takes a pregnancy test which returns a positive result, and she attempts to perform a self-abortion, which fails. She then kills Justine and everyone who was at the house party. Wanting to shed evidence of what she's done, she torches her clothes and items from some of the people from the party, and in the process sets fire to her parents home (she also locks her parents inside their bedroom). Turns out Alexia has been on a killing spree with other victims being mentioned on the news. Hoping to escape the police she pretends to be Adrien Legrand, a boy who had disappeared 10 years ago. She makes her claim to the police, and Vincent, a fire captain who is Adrien's father, comes to collect her at the station, and accepts her as his missing son. 

There's a lot to unpack on "Titane", in the sense that the narrative has so many different threads that it touches upon. There are aspects which are very indebted to David Cronenberg, namely the body horror aspect that it sets in motion as Alexia's body mutates during her pregnancy. There's also a thread of queerness that permeates all the relationships that appear throughout the film, and also a devastating observation of the life of a father who never got over the disappearance of his child, and whose guilt and loss haunt and cripple every single aspect of his existence. And all this is tied with this imminent violent streak that the lead character exhibits. All these threads co-exist and definitely make for a very interesting narrative, though not for one that is necessarily the most coherent. Alexia's journey and her relationship with her own family for instance, is very underdeveloped, and something that deserved more attention, whereas when Vincent shows up in the story, his saddened stance, his longing, and his guilt, take the film in a very different direction, as if suddenly this wallop guttural punch of someone's crushing journey comes by and makes the narrative into something else. Suddenly Alexia/Adrien's presence becomes secondary to what Vincent is going through, something that the film doesn't really know how to address very properly either. The writer/director knowingly crafts two powerful narrative threads, but they never really gel in a very organic manner, which is why this film doesn't soar as much as it should. Vincent's thread needed a film of its own, something that gave more dimension to who that character is, what relationships he has had since the disappearance of his child, and his despair in getting his son back, to absolve himself of something. There's a lot to mine on this thread of the narrative, however the ties with Alexia/Adrien's journey stunt this development, and ultimately stunt the film as well. The cast is solid, particularly the phenomenal Vincent Lindon, an actor who is typically fantastic in everything he does, but who embodies this character with a depth and authenticity that is exemplary. He has a solid partner in the shape of Agathe Rousselle, though Alexia as a character feels less resolved than Vincent. The production team is also impeccable, particularly Ruben Impens' cinematography, Jim Williams' score, and Laurie Colson and Lise Péault's production design. It's not entirely well sorted out, but it's a fascinating watch.