Titans

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Movie
Original title Titans
Country of production France , Belgium
original language French
Publishing year 2021
length 108 minutes
Rod
Director Julia Ducournau
script Julia Ducournau
production Jean-Christophe Reymond
music Jim Williams
camera Ruben Impens
cut Jean-Christophe Bouzy
occupation

Titan is a feature film by Julia Ducournau from the year 2021 . The Fantasy - Drama is about a serial killer (played by Agathe Rousselle ), the vehicle is physically connected and on the run from the police the identity of the missing son of a firefighter ( Vincent Lindon ) assumes. The radical work of the filmmaker, who is enthusiastic about body horror , split film criticism when it was released and defied the conventions of genre and arthouse film as well as any gender attributions. Comparisons have often been made with David Cronenberg's film Crash (1996).

The Franco - Belgian co-production premiered on July 13, 2021 in the competition at the 74th Cannes International Film Festival and won the festival's main prize with the Palme d'Or. A release in French cinemas took place on July 14, 2021.

plot

As a little girl, after a car accident for which she was partly responsible, Alexia received a titanium plate implanted in her skull by her father. The scars above her right ear can be concealed by her hair that grows back, but she soon develops a physical affection for vehicles. As soon as she was released from the hospital, she did not look at her parents. Instead, she runs up to the accident vehicle, hugs and caresses it.

Decades later in adulthood, Alexia works as an erotic dancer on a car show. She brutally kills people who are in her way or who come too close. She also has bondage sex with an exhibition vehicle that makes her pregnant in a flash. Her stomach swells painfully and motor oil comes out of her breasts.

When she has to flee from the police, Alexia takes on a new identity as the missing son of the fire department commander Vincent. His child Adrien disappeared without a trace ten years ago. As a camouflage, Alexia drastically changes her appearance - she ties her stomach and breasts, breaks her nose and cuts her hair short. Vincent, who regularly injects hormones into his muscular body, accepts her as his prodigal son without asking questions. He soon developed fatherly feelings. Alexia then has to prove herself in her new role in the virile fire brigade, which Vincent forbids any discussion about his recovered son.

History of origin

Pre-production and casting

For Julia Ducournau , Titane is the second feature film she directed. Her feature film debut, the horror film Raw , premiered in 2016 at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in the sub-section Semaine de la Critique and had become a surprise success with audiences and critics. As with Raw , Ducournau wrote the script himself, which, according to producer Jean-Christophe Reymond, took five years of work to complete. She was most fascinated by the body horror genre . Also was Cubism been significant for them. “It [cubism] says something about the deconstruction of an identity in order to create a new image that belongs only to the person who realizes it. We experience the complete transformation of the film character. And by accepting to become someone else, she appropriates that new person until she becomes herself. This is how she succeeds in transcending her own fate, ”says Ducournau about the character of Alexia.

Ducournau again engaged actress Garance Marillier , cameraman Ruben Impens , editor Jean-Christophe Bouzy and composer Jim Williams , who had contributed to their debut work. The film project was announced at the end of 2019.

Vincent Lindon took on the male lead

Ducournau selected the experienced French actor Vincent Lindon and the newcomer Agathe Rousselle for the leading roles . For a year and a half, Lindon prepared extensively for the role of fireman Vincent with strength training and running. The 61-year-old's physique changed significantly. He also completed training with the fire fighters in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois . In order to get to know the mood, behavior and technical jargon, he also took part in night shifts and a first aid course together with Ducournau . During a fire brigade, Lindon had to climb a 33 meter high ladder and operate a water hose with a pressure of 15 kilos.

For Agathe Rousselle, Titane is her cinema debut and at the same time her first feature film. Before that, she had only appeared in short films. When she introduced herself to director Ducournau, it was the fourth casting that she had been taught. At the last audition, Rousselle handed her a letter that touched the filmmaker very much. In view of the demanding role of Alexia during the shooting, Ducournau campaigned for a “safe space” for the cinema debutante. Certain scenes were shot with a maximum of four crew members on the film set. Rousselle was also given the right to stop shooting the film immediately if she felt uncomfortable. The actress was very reassured by the fact that Ducournau was a director who surrounded herself with many women. She attested to the media that she encountered a “caring environment” during the filming. “What interested me about Ducournau's film is that it treats the body as a subject and absolutely not as an object. At no point in time, not even at the beginning, when the film is very sexualized, is the body discussed. The fact that she never objectified it gave me a good feeling and confidence, ”said Rousselle about working with the director.

The role of the father of the young Alexia was cast with the French film director Bertrand Bonello .

Filming and production

The shooting was originally planned from April to May 2020. The appointment could not be kept due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The shooting was then rescheduled in southern France in September 2020.

Was produced Titane by the French Kazak Productions in association with the Belgian company Frakas. Arte France Cinema and Voo et Betv also appeared as co-producers. Also were Canal + and Arte France involved in the project. Co-financing was provided by the French state film funding authority CNC .

Publication and reception

The film premiered on July 13, 2021 at the 74th Cannes Film Festival and divided the professional reviews. Comparisons have often been made with David Cronenberg's Crash (1996), and in some cases with Shin'ya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989).

In a purely French review of the website Le film français , Michaël Mélinard ( L'Humanité ), only one of the 15 critics saw the film as a palm tree favorite. Nine critics ( Cahiers du cinéma , Les Inrockuptibles , Le Journal du Dimanche , L'Obs , Ouest-France , Positif , Sud Ouest , Télé Matin and Télérama ) gave Titane the second best rating with three stars . In the international reviews of the British trade magazine Screen International , the film received only 1.6 out of a possible 4 stars and took one of the lower places among the 24 films in the competition.

The German-language specialist review largely praised Titane :

Andreas Busche ( Der Tagesspiegel ) praised Agathe Rousselle , who delivered a “tour de force” in the lead role. Although Titane is "disturbing and provocative", the shocks used are "never an end in themselves". Ducournau's directorial work is “a radical work that recalibrates the conventions of genre and art house cinema (as well as gender attributions)”. Titane also breaks “all common criteria of film criticism” and Busche gave the production opportunities to buy .

Aliki Nassoufis ( Berliner Morgenpost ) also gave Ducournau's work price opportunities in a short review and described it as a feminist horror film that provokes with its story and its images.

Hannah Pilarczyk ( Spiegel Online ) praised Titane as "unquestionably the wildest film" of the festival year and trusted it to win the main prize. Ducournau invented “the horror subgenre of gender gore” with the work. She also praised leading actress Rousselle as "the discovery of this festival". Behind Ducournau's "explicitly and concretely physically" told story stands the "exploration of one's own sexuality". The figure of Alexia could also "stand for a generation of young people who break down sexual identity and orientation in a completely new way" and no longer recognize any rules.

A regular theatrical release in France took place one day after the premiere in Cannes, on July 14, 2021 in the distribution of Diaphana Distribution. Before the start of filming, the exploitation rights for North America were sold by Wild Bunch International to the Neon company.

Awards

For Titane Ducournau received at their first invitation to the competition Palme d'Or , the top prize of the Cannes Film Festival. At the award ceremony, director Ducournau thanked the mostly female jury around the US filmmaker Spike Lee . With her decision, she recognized that the world needs more diversity . She also thanked the jury members for allowing “the monsters”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Andreas Busche: Bondage sex with a car . In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 15, 2021, p. 20.
  2. ↑ a b c d Michael Sennhauser: Titane . In: sennhausersfilmblog.ch, July 13, 2021 (accessed on July 17, 2021).
  3. ↑ a b c Hannah Pilarczyk: Breasts filled with motor oil instead of breast milk . In: spiegel.de, July 14, 2021 (accessed July 17, 2021).
  4. ↑ a b c d e Fabien Lemercier: Kirill Serebrennikov's Petrov's Flu for Arte France Cinéma . In: cineuropa.org, September 25, 2019 (accessed June 14, 2021).
  5. ^ Fabien Lemercier: Jean-Christophe Reymond . In: cineuropa.com, May 14, 2021 (accessed June 23, 2021).
  6. ↑ Cannes 2021: Body horror in the film "Titane" . In: arte.tv, 0:28 min ff. (Accessed on July 18, 2021).
  7. ↑ Cannes 2021: Body horror in the film "Titane" . In: arte.tv, 1:21 min ff. (Accessed on July 18, 2021).
  8. ↑ Jim Williams scoring Julia Ducournau's 'Titane' . In: filmmusicreporter.com, June 22, 2021 (accessed June 23, 2021).
  9. ↑ a b Melanie Goodfellow: Wild Bunch International unveils 2021 French slate (exclusive) . In: screendaily.com, January 8, 2021 (accessed June 14, 2021).
  10. ↑ Lionel Durel: Vincent Lindon tout en muscle dans le film Titane: “J'ai suivi un entraînement poussé” . In: 24matins.fr, July 12, 2021 (accessed July 13, 2021).
  11. ↑ Léonie Dutriévoz: Vincent Lindon, le Musclor qu'on n'attendait pas dans "Titan" . In: madame.lefigaro.fr, July 9, 2021 (accessed July 13, 2021).
  12. ↑ Agathe Rousselle a trois maisons ... . In: mixtemagazine.com, July 1, 2020 (accessed July 12, 2021).
  13. ↑ Cannes 2021: Body horror in the film "Titane" . In: arte.tv, 0:55 min ff. (Accessed on July 18, 2021).
  14. ↑ Titans . In: diaphana.fr (accessed June 14, 2021).
  15. ↑ The Screenings Guide 2021 . In: festival-cannes.com, July 1, 2021 (accessed July 2, 2021).
  16. ↑ a b David Ehrlich: 'Titane' Review: Julia Ducournau Follows 'Raw' with One of the Wildest Films to Ever Screen at Cannes . In: indiewire.com, (accessed July 17, 2021).
  17. ↑ Nicolas Schaller: Julia Ducournau présente “Titane”: “Mon film, c'est Gaïa, Ouranos et la naissance de l'humanité” . In: nouvelobs.com, July 13, 2021 (accessed via the Nexis Uni press database ).
  18. ↑ Florence Colombani: Cinéma - Julia Ducournau, portrait de la jeune fille en fer . In: lepoint.fr, July 13, 2021 (accessed via the Nexis Uni press database ).
  19. ↑ Etienne Sorin: Julia Ducournau: "J'avais envie de montrer Vincent Lindon comme on ne l'avait jamais vu" . In: Le Figaro , July 14, 2021, N ° 23917, p. 11.
  20. ↑ # Cannes2021 - Le tableau final des Etoiles de la critique (# Palmomètre) In: lefilmfrancais.com, July 17, 2021 (accessed July 17, 2021).
  21. ↑ Melissa Kasule: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's 'Memoria' soars to second on Screen's Cannes jury grid . In: screendaily.com, July 16, 2021 (accessed July 17, 2021).
  22. ↑ Aliki Nassoufis: These are the favorites at the Cannes Film Festival . In: Berliner Morgenpost, July 17, 2021, p. 14.
  23. ↑ Titans . In: allocine.fr (accessed June 14, 2021).
  24. ↑ Tweet . In: twitter.com (accessed July 17, 2021).
  25. ^ Sabine Rau: Julia Ducournau's film "Titane" wins the Golden Palm in Cannes . In: tagesschau.de, July 17, 2021, 1:10 min ff. (Accessed on July 18, 2021).