Titane

Rounding out my "catch-up" reviews (4 of 4, before the new Bond film) we get to Titane, a French film of which I new next to nothing about other than it was "crazy" and was highly praised at Cannes. 

Usually, these types of films are right up my alley. An indie film with lots of style, some great performances, a cool story, and just a...vibe. Other times, they're a bit disappointing because of all the superlatives that are used to describe them, with the final film being fine, but not nearly worth the praise. 

And then there's Titane. 

I'm honestly not even sure how to come to terms with my opinion on Titane. I'm even more shocked that this is a wildly praised film and even a winner of the main festival award at Cannes. It's been a long time since I've gotten to do a Rath "Rant" but this will be one of them. 

Titane is a trash film disguised as arthouse elite, one that felt like a chore to get through, with a story so nonsensical and quite frankly, dumb, that I struggle to understand how this ever got the stellar reviews it did. 

For me to describe the plot to you would probably have you questioning my sanity and thinking, "Do I need to commit Jordan to a psyche ward?". I went through it, bullet by bullet, with my (now) wife when I got home and her reaction to what I told her was a mixture of "What the f**k?", "Wow that sounds awful", and the aforementioned psyche ward sentiment. Honestly, I disliked almost everything about the plot so much, that I'm tempted to ruin it here for anyone thinking about seeing it so they can see how ridiculous it is. Even worse, almost every time I was thinking, "Oh I hope they don't go there." it would go there making me more and more frustrated with the film. And so many components of the story are just dropped throughout the narrative that it grew tiresome. Example? When we first meet young Alexia, she loves cars. Like a lot. And then that part of her psyche just...what...goes away? This happens multiple times throughout and it drove me crazy. 

Oh the things she does to this car...

At least this performance is great

The film is at its best when it's Alexia bonding with her pseudo father, Vincent. The "point" (or one of them) the film tries to make is quite on the nose and summed as: bad father figure = serial killer! Good father figure = not a serial killer! Even still, these moments between them are often good, thanks to stellar performances by Agathe Rousselle (Alexia) and Vincent Lindon (Vincent). They both give their all to the weirdness and messiness of this film and I can't take that away from them. Unfortunately the film takes their somewhat heartwarming relationship and, with a moment where I almost audibly commented "I hope they don't go there.", it goes there and ruins it for no f*****g reason.

Titane just feels like one of those films that wants to be weird for weird sake, without really any point or style to it. There are some grotesque moments - with at least one where I had to cover my eyes - and more than enough graphic nudity to where we know Agathe Rouselle's body very well. None of that is inherently bad, it just felt like Titane goes over the top for the sake of it, much like some of the plot beats that just feel like they're there for WTF-factor.

It has been a while since I've really disliked or hated a film. It's been even longer since I entered a film I thought I'd enjoy and walked out shaking my head, feeling like I just wasted precious hours of my PTO vacation. There's a part of me that wonders if I just didn't "get" Titane...almost like I missed a pivotal scene or connection point, but then I think back to all the specifics of why I hated it - many of which aren't shared here because #spoilers - and I remember that this is just one of those times you have to call a spade a spade: Titane is garbage. 

CONS

• Literally everything about the story. It's weird, yes, but drops subplots and character traits left and right, continuously pushing the story to places I didn't want it to go
• And those places you DONT want it to go are often just for the sake of being "extreme" or "weird"
• Speaking of extreme/weird/grotesque...Titane does it just for the sake of doing it. There's no "cool" factor here
• Film's main points aren't very subtle 
• Lacks any distinct style or tone that could have helped it (somewhat) and was readily apparent in its first 5 minutes...then disappears

PROS

• Anchored by two very strong performances, even if I detested Alexia's character
• Has awesome music selection, both original score and soundtrack

Rath's Review Score | 3/10