How did Thomas Vinterberg inspire Julia Ducournau?
Titane is perhaps one of the most divisive and provocative films of the decade, prompting a range of reactions at the Cannes Film Festival, where some fainted, others threw up, and many fell in love with the story of Alexia and her unique relationship with cars. Julia Ducournau is a singular talent who dissects the grey areas between gender, performance, and tradition through her genre-bending body horrors. From the visceral intensity of Raw to the charged discomfort of her short film Junior, Ducournau has always focused on the body, drawing parallels between real-life issues and the more uncomfortable sides of womanhood.
While her style is unique in the way she portrays these ideas visually, creating strong metaphors that add to an immersive yet unsettling tone, the director has spoken about the inspiration that she drew from other genres and directors, describing her love for one Danish auteur who had an impact on her knockout film, Titane.
Titane is a triumph in every sense of the word, following Alexia as her path crosses with a firefighter whose son has been missing for ten years. Through this relationship, the pair finally find unconditional love, embracing radical self-acceptance as Alexia gives birth to a baby that was created through her love for cars. While the plot is hard to explain, it is one of those films you have to see for yourself to fully understand its power, with Ducournau creating something truly revolutionary that blurs the line between reality and performance.
When asked about how she first came up with this idea and the focus on performance, Ducournau said, “I wanted to work on our preconceived ideas. Actually, that’s something that I really like in other directors’ work. For example, in The Hunt by Vinterberg, he does this so well, he plays with you, but he plays with himself. I think I wanted to kind of somehow tickle this easiness that there is to judge someone in yourself. I mean both men and women, I mean the whole audience. I wanted to make you able to get into her shoes, to somehow reverse your preconceived ideas, you know, to change your mind, basically, which is already a lot isn’t it?”
Whether it’s through films like The Hunt or The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg focuses on carefully dismantling our preconceived ideas about certain people or groups. In The Celebration, he exposes a wealthy, successful family as abusive and predatory. In The Hunt, he flips the perspective, portraying an innocent man falsely accused of sexual abuse, highlighting the gap between public perception and private truth, and the damage that can be done when lies take hold.
Ducournau’s latest film, Alpha, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in a matter of weeks. Many film lovers are eagerly awaiting her next stroke of genius, a film that will be sure to play on these ideas and make us question the world around us.
