Vulnerable Bodies

Titane (2021) can be placed among the so-called “body genres” because its scenes of bodily deformations mainly evoke affective perceptions. Julie Ducournau successfully shows that the body is by no means static, but always changeable, always dependent on other bodies and the environment. With a metaphor that visually illustrates that the human body can be perceived as a machine, Ducournau actually rejects this
possibility and persistently builds an image of a vulnerable, painful body that cannot be (completely) controlled. It seems that the filmmaker uses the body to physically portray an individual’s internal struggle, her being torn between various social roles, her feeling of not belonging. Strange bodily transformations become, among other things, synonymous with the check-mate position of the central heroine, who cannot identify with anything in the black-and-white world.

The integral version of this article can be found in the printed KINO!