American cinema can be a bore. As a society, we tend to overly focus on logic, writing, and pacing when it comes to great film. When it comes to the awful films, we focus on lousy production value, plot holes, incoherent writing and poorly realized characters. Everything is handed to us on a plate to pick and choose. We can delight in the simple nacho bowl of never ending sequels and franchises or indulge in the charcuterie board of an occasional Oscar contender. And then you have a film like Titane.
Titane is like a wheel that just spilled its ball bearings all over the floor. You have to reach in certain places to find the balls and even pontificate where they might have rolled to. It's time consuming, difficult and makes you want to say "to heck with this" and get a new wheel at ACE Hardware. Such is the twisted mastery that is this vivid and outlandish film.
Julia Ducournau continues to make the statement that we should give women more projects in the film world. Her version of France feels dirtier and grimier than most, even when it is bathed in neon lights. It's a statement toward the current trends, that she will twist them with more perverse and dangerous themes.
We start the story with Alexia, who is on the run due to being a serial killer. She decides to impersonate a man that has been missing for years, but little does she know the father of the lost boy is as damaged as she is. If anything, Alexia's relationship with Vincent is a culmination of stress reaction to trauma. Alexia fetishizes and "makes love" to vehicles due to an accident she has in her youth. This leaves her with brain damage and possibly the source of her violence. Vincent lost his son after he apparently ran away, most likely due to the controlling and egomaniacal tendencies Vincent displays. Vincent battles time and a slowly dying body with testosterone in hopes he can reclaim his manhood that he lost when his son ran away and his wife unceremoniously left him.
There is a lot to unpack. The film takes on complicated subjects like gender fluidity, possibly gender dysphoria, sexual fluidity, the male ego, homoeroticism in hyper masculine professions, technological encroachment and the dissipation of the traditional family unit. And then there is that ending. Phew.
This is not an easy watch, even for people exposed to this cinema. If you like the neatly packaged and arranged simplicity of the common American cinema, this will not be for you. If you do like being challenged, then check this out.
