CANNES 2021
Car sex, Cronenbergian body horror and walkouts — TITANE at Cannes was an experience Four other shocks from this year’s Cannes
The world’s biggest film festival returned, and we were there every step of the way. Includes the first word on the wild Palme D’OR winner, Titane.
IT’S A LITERAL CAR CRASH
Five years after French filmmaker Julia Ducournau astounded us with her debut feature, the cannibalistic coming-of-age tale Raw, she has returned with Titane, an audacious sophomore effort that cements her place as one of the most talented horror auteurs working today. Electrifying newcomer Agathe Rousselle stars as Alexia, a car-show dancer with a scar on her head. The film’s title refers to the metal plate in her skull following a childhood car accident. Alexia holds a peculiar affinity for her Cadillac, and it doesn’t take long for her to have car sex… literally. French Extremity at its most extreme.
IT INSPIRED WALKOUTS
If Raw’s thumb scene had you feeling nauseous, best to prepare yourself now for the corporeal carnage Titane has in store. The film ramps up the body horror in a major way, with its bloody murdering sprees, self-inflicted injuries and a Cronenbergian finale that might have the squeamish eyeing the fastest route to the bathroom. Raw had audiences fainting, and while Titane didn’t elicit the same response from the crowd on the Croisette, its goriest scenes did prompt winces, gasps and a few walkouts.
IT’S SURPRISINGLY FUNNY
Titane might be gruesome, but it also discovers serendipitous moments of levity in the strangest of places. There’s an awkward encounter with a nipple-piercing, as well as slapstick murder.
When Alexia disguises herself as the missing son of a steroid-loaded fire chief (played by French acting legend Vincent Lindon), their unusual relationship reaches its peak in a hilarious father-son bonding opportunity involving CPR and the Macarena.
IT WON THE FESTIVAL’S TOP PRIZE
The film ultimately won the Palme d’or at Cannes, making Ducournau only the second female director to be awarded the top prize, the first being Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993. And in a slip-up to rival the Moonlight/la La Land Oscars catastrophe, jury president Spike Lee accidentally revealed the winner way before he was supposed to. Only fitting for a film this chaotic. As Ducournau herself acknowledged in her acceptance speech, “This evening has been perfect because it’s been imperfect.” Vive le cinéma!
SHEEP HORROR!
Supernatural Icelandic drama Lamb sees Noomi Rapace as a farmer looking to start an unconventional family with her husband; cue agricultural body horror and gory creature effects.
NUN NUDITY!
Veteran provocateur Paul Verhoeven unsettled prudish viewers with his erotic nun thriller Benedetta, which included a scene where nuns use a religious idol as a sex toy.
MOODY MURDERERS!
Caleb Landry Jones puts in a deeply disturbing performance as Australian serial killer Martin Bryant. Justin Kurzel’s quietly brutal new drama is somehow more shocking for not showing violence.
VERY ORAL SEX!
Adam Driver stunned the Palais Des Festivals audience by singing between Marion Cotillard’s legs during a sex scene in director Leos Carax’s bonkers musical.