Movies
[TIFF Review] ‘Titane’ Goes Full Throttle on Transgressive Body Horror and Dark Humor
Filmmaker Julia Ducournau broke out with a provocative debut feature that blended horror, comedy, and tenderness in a coming-of-age cannibal tale. It set the bar high for her anticipated sophomore effort, which Cannes reactions only bolstered. The reality is that Ducournau’s follow-up, Titane, continues what she started with Raw. Sexual and gender identity gets explored through provocative body horror, delivering a viscerally violent and darkly comedic yet tender experience that’s difficult to forget.
During childhood, a car accident left Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) with a titanium plate in her skull and a car fetish. As an adult, Alexia works as a well-known dancer and model at car shows, writhing atop the hoods of hot rods and titillating patrons. That’s not the only thing strange about Alexia, either. She’s socially aloof to the point of casual murder. Her after-hour pastime of killing catches the notice of authorities, and Alexia goes on the run, right into the arms of firefighter captain Vincent (Vincent Lindon) after posing as his long-lost son. With the threat of the truth constantly hanging overhead, hiding under a different gender proves extra tricky when Alexia realizes a torrid car encounter left her body with a parting, unwanted gift.
Once again, Ducournau finds unique, transgressive ways to use body horror that trigger instant revulsion yet garner instant empathy. Alexia is an anti-heroine, borderline sociopathic, and someone who initially captivates by her shocking acts. Those incredible acts never really stop; they only transform into something else as she enters Vincent’s care. Vincent isn’t exactly normal himself, there’s something dangerous about him, but he’s also profoundly broken from losing his son so many years ago. A ruthless killer gets in over her head when plunged into a strange testosterone-filled new world. All while her body becomes a foreign battleground.
When taken at surface value, no wonder Titane garnered a “WTF” reputation on the festival circuit. Alexia’s narrative is a wild, wild ride and goes to some odd places, and Ducournau’s use of demented humor certainly adds to the feeling that she’s messing with her audience. But much like the feral hunger for flesh stood in for sexual appetite in Raw, a murderess with a sexual desire for vehicles also serves as a façade for something more unsettling. Something that would understandably send a woman spiraling into murder and an identity crisis.
Ducournau is now two for two in creating films that ask you to read between the lines while distracting you from outrageous and often violent horror. She pushes the envelope much further here in taste and challenging heteronormativity. The metaphors don’t stop, resulting in a kaleidoscope of weird that aims to polarize.
Titane throws everything at its audience in an aggressive style. Visceral, cringe-worthy violence, and even more bizarre sexual encounters. Surreal moments of tenderness and another round of awkward dance scenes ensue. Twisted humor heightens the strangeness of it all, right down to gross-out body horror. Ducournau makes all of it, visually and narratively, remarkably coherent. It’s anchored by a pair of leads so fully committed to their oddly winsome yet profoundly flawed characters. Playing like two different halves of a whole- another metaphor in itself- Titane will prove to be divisive upon release. That second half favoring a less explosive, but no less volatile story shift. But if you fell hard for the style of genre-bending horror of Raw, well, chances are high you’ll fall for Ducournau’s sophomore effort as well. Titane hits the pedal to the metal and goes off-road into much wilder territory. Buckle up.
Titane releases in theaters on October 1, 2021.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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