27. MAN & MACHINE: When one interacts with the opposite, each are without end modified.
Titane
It’s a story as previous as time, proper? Lady fucks automobile, woman turns into pregnant with a monster automobile child, woman murders a slew of social gathering company and impersonates a grieving middle-aged man’s long-missing son to cover from the regulation. French director and screenwriter Julia Ducournau’s 2021 physique horror psychological drama and have movie debut Titane is without doubt one of the weirdest, most sui generis movies I’ve ever watched, and that’s not even probably the most attention-grabbing factor about it.
French journalist, mannequin, and actress (triple menace!) Agathe Rousselle stars as Alexia, who suffers an damage in a automobile crash as a baby and is fitted with a titanium plate in her head. Consequently, she develops a sexual fascination with vehicles and grows as much as be a serial killer who moonlights as a motor present mannequin. After a carnal encounter with a Cadillac, she discovers she’s pregnant, kills a number of company at a home social gathering, and flees, ultimately disguising herself as “Adrien,” a hearth captain’s son who went lacking 10 years in the past. Maybe as a result of delusion or plain previous wishful considering, the fireplace captain, Vincent, welcomes this androgynous stranger into his residence with open arms and no DNA take a look at.
All of it sounds patently ludicrous on paper, however a distinctly human coronary heart beats beneath all that gore and steel. Ducournau stubbornly maintains empathy for her characters and manages to inform a narrative in regards to the fluidity of identification, the wonderful line between artifice and authenticity, and the miracle of discovering love and connection in probably the most sudden locations.
The Stranger is taking part in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Problem all month lengthy! Each October, Scarecrow places collectively a listing of cinematic themes and invitations of us to comply with alongside and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the factors. This yr, Stranger staffers are becoming a member of the enjoyable and we’re sharing our every day suggestions right here on Slog! Learn extra about Scarecrow’s 2024 problem—and get the watch listing—right here. And you may monitor our every day suggestions right here! 💀
