52 Films by Women Vol 6. 16. TITANE (Director: Julia Ducournau)
Contains spoilers from the outset Julia Ducournau would have been the last director to expect to win the Palme D’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for a film , Titane , about a female serial killer who has rough sex in the backseat of a car with the car itself. Since when did realism and serious intent get neglected by the jury? It turned out that Jury President, Spike Lee, forgot that he was supposed to wait until the end of the ceremony before announcing the Grand Prize, but then Spike doesn’t do anything conventionally. Titane gets more outrageous the longer it goes, with the protagonist’s nipples leaking oil rather than milk as she pretends to be a fire chief’s missing son whilst battling to contain her pregnant belly. The film retains a dark sense of humour and finally a point of human connection as the protagonist makes a sacrifice (of sorts) to the father she never knew she needed. The film pays homage to the so-called cinema du papa , a contentious French genre th...