Titane (France, 2021)

When I reviewed Julia Ducournau’s first feature, Raw, back in 2021, it fell just short of making my top three films of the month. This may have been a mistake, as Raw has stayed with me more than most films from that year. It certainly left me wanting to see Titane, Ducournau’s next film, although this proved frustratingly tricky to track down on UK streaming services for some time. Happily, it is now available, so here we are.

Titane is currently streaming on Channel 4 in the UK.

Synopsis

We meet Alexia as a child, throwing a tantrum in the back of her father’s car, distracting him with disastrous consequences. The resulting crash injures Alexia severely, and she requires extensive surgery, including a titanium plate in her skull.

Now an adult, Alexia is a dancer. She is working a car show, writhing sensually over the display models, putting the “auto” into “autoerotic”. This has earned her a following of creepy fans, which turns out to be both a curse and a blessing. While they are, well, creepy, they do allow Alexia to indulge her true passion of murder.

After a particularly bloody party where the bodies pile high, Alexia starts oozing engine oil from her vagina and notices her stomach bulging. She adds to the carnage by killing her parents, and has to go on the run. Spotting a missing persons notice for a boy named Adrien, last seen ten years ago, Alexia decides to try being him for a while. She shaves her hair, cuts off her eyebrows, and reshapes her nose in a way that will give you nightmares.

With breasts and swollen belly taped down, “Adrien” turns up on the doorstep of his father, the captain of a team of firefighters. The captain wilfully accepts Alexia as his son, violently shutting out all evidence to the contrary. But how long can she keep her true identity secret, especially with the strange, metallic shape growing inside her?

General Thoughts

You could absolutely have long, spirited, and probably drunken arguments about whether Titane is actually horror. While there is plenty of blood and violence, it is more a weird character study than anything that sets out to frighten. The latter half of the film, in particular, has little in it that would neatly fit into the horror genre. And yet I feel utterly vindicated in including it in this challenge.

While Titane is far from the only film where body horror is used to describe the delusional state of the protagonist, it is one of the most effective. I spent much of the film wondering if Alexia was pregnant and hallucinating or if there really was some weird automotive transformation happening within her. Her changes are presented in such a viscerally uncomfortable manner that I found myself gripping my own gut in sympathy. And the images of Alexia’s bodily fluids becoming engine oil are truly nightmarish.

Verdict

I suspect Titane will alienate more viewers than it draws in, but those it does win over will probably love it. This is an unrepentantly weird film that smacks us around before turning into a strangely moving drama about family and loss. In this respect, it is the reverse of most horror films, delivering its biggest shocks in the first act.

Agathe Rousselle’s performance as Alexia is breathtaking. She perfectly embodies this twisted, polymorphous creature through her various shifts in identity, keeping our sympathies even as Alexia does the most terrible things.

While I very much enjoyed Titane, people looking for a fun horror film for the spooky season would not thank me for recommending it. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something weird, challenging, and more horror-adjacent, then Titane may be your cup of engine oil.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.