Titane

A childhood traffic accident leaves Alexa with a titanium plate in her head. As an adult woman (Agathe Rousselle), she feels the effects of the hard metal: she is attracted to pyromania and destruction and is sexually aroused by… cars. The mixture of hormones and gasoline in her body sends waves of aggression. Orgies lead to bursts of bloody violence and when the story seems to have reached a crescendo, an odd meeting sends it into another direction.

Directed by Julia Ducournau, Titane is only the second film by a woman director to have won a palm d’or in Cannes. Ducournau’s bold filmmaking rejects conventions, good taste and propriety, as well as genre boundaries – Titane moves from slasher to horror to intimate family drama. Just like the transformations undergone by the heroine. Titane mixes gender identities, visceral cinema, metal, cars and the horror engendered by the body and family relations.