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Titane
France / Belgium 2021
produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond, Christophe Hollebeke (executive) for Kazak Productions, Frakas Productions, Arte, VOO, BE TV, Canal+
directed by Julia Ducournau
starring Vincent Lindon, Agathe Rousselle, Garance Marillier, Laïs Salameh, Mara Cisse, Marin Judas, Diong-Kéba Tacu, Myriem Akheddiou, Bertrand Bonello, Céline Carrère, Adèle Guigue, Thibault Cathalifaud, Dominique Frot, Lamine Cissokho, Florence Janas, Frédéric Jardin, Olivia Venner, Thibault Villette
screenplay by Julia Ducournau in collaboration with Jacques Akchoti, Jean-Christophe Bouzy, Simonetta Greggio, music by Séverin Favriau, Jim Williams, special makeup effects by Olivier Afonso, Amelie Grossier, Céline Llerena, visual effects by Mac Guff Ligne
review by Mike Haberfelner
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When she was seven, Alexia (Adèle Guigue as 7 year old, Agatha
Rousselle as adult) was involved in a car accident, and as a result has a
titanium plate transplanted into her head. All grown up, Alexia has become
a dancer, and she's especially effective as car shows as she seems to have
a special connection with cars - and indeed, back home she frequently has
sex with her car. She has no interest in human relationships of course,
and those who come to close to her she stabs with her hairpin. But she
does feel drawn to fellow dancer Justine (Garance Marillier), or rather
her nipple piercings, and eventually that leads to sex - which in turn
leads to Alexia killing not only her but all of her flatmates. Now this
killing spree doesn't go unnoticed, and the police are also quick to
pinpoint her as the guilty party - but by that time, Alexia has long gone
on the run, has shaved her beautiful blond hair and dressed up as a man.
When she comes across a missing person poster for a man called Adrien, she
notices a vague resemblance, breaks her nose to look more like him, and
eventually presents herself to Adrien's father, fire chief Vincent
(Vincent Lindon), who is so happy to have his missing son back he
overlooks many incongruencies and gives Alexia a home and a job with his
team of firefighters. Thing is, before long Alexia notices she's pregnant
- and most likely from her car - and as good as she is with hiding that
fact, she won't be able to hide it forever ... Titane is
quite an unusual film for sure. Now of course, parallels to David
Cronenberg's body horror movies are undeniable, but despite shared
motives, Titane doesn't ape Cronenberg but goes its own path, which
over the course of the story leads away from horror in the more
traditional sense of the word and instead becomes a very twisted character
piece packed with absurd and often macabre ideas - sure making it one of
the mure unusual films to ever have nabbed the Palme d'Or in
Cannes. But that said, Titane is not a perfect film, some of its
shock elements seem too calculated while at times the direction is a
little too stylized - but it still makes for a very unusual watch.
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