Nights of Horror: Titane (2021)

Titane (France, 2021)

Nobody could have predicted how Julia Ducournau would have followed up her 2016 debut, Raw, a coming of age story tinged with cannibalism. So, when she released a few teaser images during the pandemic of a beautiful woman writhing atop a flame-wrapped low-rider Cadillac, it seemed universally appealing, and a lot of people had questions, but…. I’m not going to say I knew better, but this was a movie from the opening frame I knew I had to just sit on and take the ride. (Or maybe I’m burnt out from work and not ready to analyze anything. Comme ci, comme ça.)

Titane does indeed open up with our protagonist, Alexia, a beautiful woman writhing atop a flame-wrapped low-rider Cadillac, surrounded by other sexy classic cars getting twerked on by baddies, in a special club made just for people who love to see this sort of thing. And instead of throwing money. These patrons are begging for autographs, which is so fucking French. That’s something I’ll be saying a lot.

Alexia has a massive scar covering half of her head, concealing a titanium plate that she’s had since she was a bad ass kid in the backseat, pulling some nonsense and I’m not saying she MADE her dad crash the car, but he did lose his temper, and he could have handled the situation a lot better. So now on top of the fact that he regrets ever becoming a father, he has this Kid Who Lived that is never going to let him forget it. And she still lives with him, despite being like, 26. Their contempt for each other is palpable, but ayyyyy, we’ll deal. They do. FRANCE!

Now that you know Alexia’s home life, let’s go to work. She dances on sexy cars and has her adoring fans, one of whom follows her out to her personal vehicle (this is why we have the buddy system and bouncers in the US, on account of the fucking audacity) and attempts to force himself in through her window. Instead of fighting him, she pulls him in for a kiss (me too, girl) and while he’s distracted by her embrace, she stabs him with a long titanium knitting needle she’s been using to hold her hair up. Right in the ear, jamming it in until he vomits all over her.

He falls to the ground, and she goes back inside, emotionless, showering away all the chunks, until the club dressing room begins to vibrate. She goes out onto the show floor and her flame-wrapped Cadillac is there, headlights on, revving its engine as if asking if she wants to fuck. Nude and dripping, she slinks out there and climbs inside, wrapping the seatbelts around her wrists, grinding and moaning as the car roars into the night.

Cue Stefon from SNL: This girl has everything. Alexia is hot, she’s got a plate in her head, she hates her dad, she killed a guy, and she fucks cars. This perfectly normal Frenchwoman and other perfectly normal Frenchwomen just like her can be found all over in one very special place: France.

So anyway, the largely non-verbal Alexia goes out with her coworker Justine, not to be confused with Justine, the protagonist from Raw, though both Justines are played by the same actress. Justine is coming onto her hard, and Alexia doesn’t really show much interest in anything but Justine’s nipple piercings, taking them into her teeth and pulling hard. Justine doesn’t really appreciate this, but after Alexia confesses she might be pregnant, she invites Alexia back to her place anyway. (Bish how horny are you?)

Predictably, things do not go well, and Alexia kills Justine, but not before she can alert her roommates to the nipple tearing maniac in their house. What follows is a surreal comedy of “how many fucking roommates does this girl have” as Alexia kills her way out of this awkward situation.

She goes home, wearing Justine’s shirt, locks her dad’s room and sets the house on fire. Guess that’s about it for this town. She puts on a ball cap and a hoodie and sweats, walking to the train station, where we know she’s not going to make it onto any public transit without an ID or money. She’s got nothing on her, and the authorities are already showing a police sketch on TV.

There are also photos of age progressed missing children all over the place. She’s got an idea.

Picking a poster of Adrien, who went missing ten years ago and would be about 17 now, she gets to work. She sloppily cuts off all her hair, wraps her swelling tits in an Ace bandage, and proceeds to smash her face on the train station bathroom sink, breaking her nose thoroughly and giving herself two black eyes. If she sucks in the little gut that she definitely didn’t have last scene, she definitely looks like a lil boy who just got his ass whooped. By the way, she’s leaking motor oil from her pussy and her nipples.

But none of that matters, because now she’s in a police station, a 17 year old boy with a giant scar on his head and a bunch of facial injuries, who is, after ten long years, about to be reunited with his overjoyed dad, a fire captain named Vincent.

Vincent is a buff middle aged daddy type who works out regularly, injecting himself with testosterone and steroids so he can continue to run his station as tight as the navy. It’s apparent that sees most of the firefighters as surrogate sons and they treat him as a father figure. We can tell that some of them feel somewhat replaced when Vincent shows up with Adrien, who still hasn’t said a word since he was found. Some of them are immediately suspicious of this Changeling, but Vincent’s enthusiasm is so palpable that Adrien is reluctantly accepted as “one of the boys.”

In the quiet hours, though, when father and “son” are left alone, the pain in Vincent’s every awkward word is evident as he begs Adrien to speak, to tell him what happened, how can they “get” the people who did this to him, where has he been all this time, it’s heartbreaking. I said it out loud while watching it, Vincent is the heart and soul of this movie. He is so full of love, and he doesn’t have anywhere to put it. And now Alexia/Adrien is here and has no idea how to receive it. This movie has now become a family drama, a father reunited with his son who is…. an increasingly obviously pregnant serial killer getting motor oil all over the sheets, her growing belly skin stretching and splitting to reveal a shiny chrome interior.

This movie tugs at my heartstrings in a very Cronenberg’s Crash sort of way, with Vincent so desperate to finally have someone ready to receive the love he has to give, that he’s willing to ignore everything that says it’s not his son. By the time Vincent’s ex-wife shows up and immediately clocks Adrien as an imposter, closing a door and hissing the accusation, it’s a relief from the agony. And Alexia/Adrien feels relieved as well, because this was supposed to be a quick way to escape the train station and run away. She could be on the run for the rest of her life, or…. she could assume the life of Adrien. Have a father that loves her and is patient with her abrasive silence. A job. Spaghetti.

I read some feedback that said this movie was transphobic, and I don’t know if I agree. Alexia doesn’t scream masculine or feminine, I think she’s whatever she needs to be to get from moment to moment, it’s not spiteful. Her transition into Adrien is survival. She’s a character in a story. And she’s about to give birth to a car.

Alexia isn’t questioning her gender or experiencing any euphoria when she’s cross-dressing. She’s disguising a grotesque and unnatural pregnancy, terrified of her own bodily changes, and opening up and being vulnerable to a complete stranger who is willing to give her unconditional love in a way that she’s never experienced, someone who is just as uncomfortable in his own changing body. It speaks to Vincent’s character that he rejects the DNA test that the police station offered. He is in his own identity crisis, his body is slowing down and failing him. If he can’t be Superman, maybe he can be a father again, and find some purpose. Don’t need a DNA test to prove you love your kid. Even if he is half car.

This movie rules, and absolutely deserved the Palme d’Or it took at Cannes. You should watch it.

Titane is available on Hulu.