IR Film Review: TITANE [Neon]

The tenacity of wanton wish fulfillment and the notion of ideas as metaphor has intersected many foreign films using essence of style and abstract imagery to reflect a state of society. "Titane", since its premiere at Cannes this past summer, has ignited a texture a flurry of controversy and perspective as the "sex with a car" movie simply because of its poster imagery which indeed paints about the 1st 1/3 of the movie. But what is interesting is that the story shifts twice more before wrapping. The film is more interesting for its distortions on sexuality and perception as well as identity and intent. While the dots don't quite connect...and sometimes not at all, they aren't really supposed to. Agatha Rousselle commits to her character Alexia with abandon and her identity shifts constantly throughout. The beginning of the movie does dwell on the male gaze but how that becomes altered because of situation or state of survival in many ways.

Vincent Lindon gives a remarkable performance that is nuanced and begets a deep trauma. The movie flirts very egregiously with expectation and boundaries. But in many ways the story is about search for love or loss of love especially between a father and child. Granted it is skewed in many ways to make it messy in very distinct proportions and for specific reasons. The car motif and Alexia's connection to it is primal and yet unfounded...wish fulfillment but utterly impractical. The iconography of oil and metal begets a kind of coldness which is also reflected in the 2nd half of the movie which is filled with Alexia's unfocused (and yet supremely focused) rage filled.

The journey again doesn't quite connect in terms of motivation behind her actions except that she can. The use of certain songs as misdirects is interesting as well especially within a dancing sequence to The Zombies' "She's Not There". Both the leads in this story are broken but just trying to survive. They go to great lengths to fix themselves (or at least give a illusion that they are) but are also prone to being ignorant in their own ways. The trick is how do you from a neon almost "Holy Motors" overload to a smaller character drama that ends in a very peculiar way. "Titane" is unique and tries a lot of different things. In doing so it creates riveting performances at times from Lindon and Rouselle while bathing a story in metaphors that only truly works when the truth of caring comes through. B-

By Tim Wassberg