Titane Reviews (original) (raw)

Nothing is safe and nothing is sacred in Julia Ducournau’s delirious new world. Rev up and get ready to run over everything the hotrods in Fast & Furious hold dear.

Titane is a dance. Julia Ducournau’s follow-up to her engrossing debut Raw is a flashy, traumatic body horror explosion that is just as gnarly as her first film.

The first time I watched TITANE by director Julia Ducournau I didn't like it - I was disturbed by the killing of innocent people, therefore I couldn't empathise with the protagonist. But then the movie grew on me, and I loved it. It's just magnificent, there is so much sweetness despite all the horror Alexia is immersed in. The movie ultimately is about the redemption brought by love. And what a soundtrack! True masterpieces stay with you, no matter how much you disliked them in the beginning.

This is the best movie of 2021 hands down. You will not see a movie like it. She put out Raw (2016) which was an amazing movie and Titane is even better.

An audacious and demented film, tailor-made for its recent Midnight Madness slot at the Toronto International Film Festival, Julia Ducournau’s Titane also has intimations of profundity - quite a claim for a film about a woman who is impregnated by a car.

The reason Titane works is director Ducournau and actors Lindon and Rousselle’s commitment to their characters and stories. Each performance is played straight without a single wink to the camera.

There are a lot of wild twists and turns in this movie, but underneath there’s a constant: the agony of being trapped inside of a human body, and the itchy, restless desire to transcend it.

Despite its physical horrors, the movie is also a celebration of the body, of the bond between pleasure and pain, agony and ecstasy—and that fusion proves to hold for family bonds as well. But the psychology and the practicalities of the story are ultimately thinly sketched, the abrupt transitions calculated to elide reflection in repose. The movie is too specific and detailed to be starkly and abstractly symbolic, yet too vague and general to convey the complexity and density of a relationship.

With Titane, Ducournau joins the crowded realm of elevated horror, to increasingly outlandish and alienating effect.

- Review before have seen an explanation - This film shows us a surreal and strange world, but with a graceful way of handling the script and a colossal staging. Undoubtedly that this was so unnerving and alluring, both performances and technical / practical field. An indie film in the right hands manifests the biggest quality of the director to make appear a short budget film to a big budget film. It takes liberty of doesn't explain us some important plot gaps, but you don't need at all, because it's intriguing enough and it's totally unforgettable. - Review after have seen an explanation - Now I confirm that this film doesn't need an explanation, all it did was open my eyes a little more, because the representation of some ideas like redemption, affection and a pretty weird way kindliness is obvious now that I think about it and that gives all the meaning to the film.

Oh wow I think I may need some therapy after that experience. Titane is really like nothing I’ve seen before, it’s truly horrifying in a “what the hell am I watching and why am I watching it” sort of way. After a series of violent and unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for ten years. That’s all I can say about the plot as it’s definitely better to go into Titane knowing as little as possible. It really feels like a mishmash of genres, never comfortably fitting into one. Occasionally a director will make a movie so insane you won’t know whether you’ll love it or hate it, the only thing you can do is watch it and find out. You might be disgusted and walk right out of the cinema or you might be glued to your seat unable to look away as you’re too desperate to know what happens next. Either way you’re in for something you’ll be stuck thinking about long after you’ve stopped watching. Robert Eggers got a similar reaction from me after The Lighthouse and now director Julia Ducournau has created something grotesque, unpredictable and unique. You also may remember hearing that Titane won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival so clearly some people out there really loved it, that being said I’ll never watch this again. Titane is not going to be for everyone, it will shock you and make you squirm all while intriguing you and reeling you in deeper and deeper because no matter how disgusted you feel watching Titane a part of you can’t help but want to know what the hell will happen next. It was giving off strong David Cronenberg vibes, so if you’re a fan of his movies then there’s a good chance you’ll like Titane. Also recommended for fans of director Julia Ducournau’s other movie Raw. It’s safe to assume if you liked Raw then you’ll probably like Titane too.

Raw was super awesome, but this? Not so much. Jumbling bizarre body horror ideas into a long mess and yes, **** a car, then reuniting with people is a film genre worthy of the Palme D’Or.

Begins with a woman dancing provocatively with the camera focused on her crotch, a [too] long shower scene followed by a murder followed by another shower scene. And after all that cleaning up, she has sex with a car. Seriously. Can we please stop trying to depict this in movies? It's been tried before and is never convincing or realistic. Just silly. I love nudity. I love cars. I love murder. I love women. But not this way. There is nothing sexy about this. Not interesting or memorable. And the murder was strictly amateur. It's competently made and acted . And I guess it's going for different or shocking. But the level of sophistication is like a 90s movie. It could have been more over the top. Or darker and depressing. But it just sort of lies there. Summary: Nudity. Murder. And brutality. But boring

This was... A rather interesting film to say the least. From Julia Ducornou (director of the grotesque but also very overrated 'Raw'), I can't even begin to describe what this film is about, cause even after seeing it, I still have no idea what it was even supposed to be about. (Somehow) the winner of the Palme D'or (a French Oscar) at the Cannes film festival, the film follows a woman who's a serial killer in France that finds herself in unusual circumstances when a man takes her into his home while she's on the run. And to give any more than that away would likely ruin the film, but what's the point in worrying about that when this film is simply bizarre, pretentious, and pointless just for the sake of it!? Seriously, the film is simply disgusting, weird, and random with no merit, rhyme or reason behind it (or at least no smart or justified reason) oh and to cap it all off, one of the main plot points involved the main female lead engaging in sexual intercourse with an... Inanimate object and becoming pregnant as the film progresses. Ya...this film was absurd, and not in a cool Lynchian or Cronenberg way like what many other reviewers have been saying.

Production Company Kazak Productions, Frakas Productions, Arte France Cinéma, VOO, BeTV, Canal+, Ciné+, Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC), Eurimages, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, La Région Île-de-France, Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Le Pays de Martigues, Métropole Aix-Marseille, Fondation GAN pour le Cinéma, Cinémage 15, Cofinova 17, Tax Shelter du Gouvernement Fédéral Belge

Release Date Oct 1, 2021

Duration 1 h 48 m

Rating TV-MA

Indiana Film Journalists Association, US

DiscussingFilm Critic Awards

• 4 Wins & 7 Nominations

Seattle Film Critics Society