Titane is an acquired taste, but it was just the kind I was looking for.
In the French film Titane, the protagonist Alexia is severe and rigid, just like titanium. Titanium also has a high melting point—just like Alexia’s seemingly cold heart. Alexia might have titanium literally in her head, but the metaphors of what it represents extend to the entirety of her body. Titane asks the question: what would it take for a soul that neglects warmth to others and also in themselves to melt? The settings in many scenes within the film are literally fiery but fire doesn't quite seem to be doing the trick. Would a pregnancy prompt her to adopt a parental role? That doesn’t seem likely either. The question is eventually answered, though. Titane starts out with some of the most brutal, unfeeling showcases of (in)humanity. I’ve seen in a while, then takes time to melt its titanium casing to show something still wholly grotesque but also wonderfully humane.
Alexia (Agatha Rouselle) – is a victim of a car crash when
she’s a child. To deal with a skull injury, she has a titanium plate placed in
her head. It soon becomes evident that she has a penchant for cars. Years
later, adult Alexia works as a showgirl at a motor show. She’s also a serial
killer. She also has sex with a car (I won’t go into details) and becomes
pregnant. Soon after, the authorities are on her tail, so she transforms
herself to look like a man—specifically a man named Adrien who went missing as
a child. She goes to live with Adrien’s father, Vincent (Vincent Landon), and they develop a kinship. But
secrets will divulge, psyches will be tortured, and things will unravel.
The best parts of Titane are in its latter half. The
early goings would be rough for certain people that aren’t enamored by murderous
scenes portrayed in gruesome detail. I almost had a fight or flight response to
those scenes in which I might have walked (or ran) away if I wasn’t seeing the
film with others. Despite my ambivalent response to those scenes, I do think
they’re necessary for establishing the brutality of Alexia, making her
transformation more effective.
But the second half? Marvelous. Agatha Rouselle brings a
bucket of pathos, but Vincent Landon brings a water fountain of it. His grief
and willful dismissal of all who say Alexia isn’t his son is so cutting. It’s
clear he knows almost right away that Alexia can’t be him, but he charges
head-on into the charade rather than into the heart-wrenching truth as his love for her burgeons rather than deflates. Alexia
and Vincent’s kinship has enough substance to carry a normal film, but this isn’t
a normal film—it’s something better. Their bond is injected with tension as
Alexia’s quickly developing pregnancy threatens to divulge her identity to
those waiting for something to validate their suspicions.
The film ends in the best way it can: with graphic imagery
cocooned in something heartfelt and cathartic. Through all the fires that
Alexia passed through in Titane, they never failed to melt her titanium plate. But something
just as severe – a cold heart – could melt in another way. Yes, I’m talking
about love. As cheesy as it is writing it in a review, it never felt that way
while watching the film. Titane leverages its unique style that slowly
gets less disorienting and brutal to convey its message just as much as through
its text. When it arrives at its cathartic moment, don’t be surprised if the
closed off, hardened part of you melts down for just a moment. Maybe there will
be a generation who won’t have an environment that’s so crude, where the
severity won’t be so prevalent. The hope of futurity can be heartening. It
could happen one day to our grandchildren or to our car-grandchildren.
The Math
Baseline Assessment: 7/10.
Bonuses: +1 For knockout performances
+1 For an unforgettable second half
Negative: -1 For what almost felt like an unrelentingly grotesque beginning
Nerd Coefficient: 8/10
POSTED BY: Sean Dowie - Screenwriter, stand-up comedian, lover of all books that make him nod his head and say, "Neat!
