The visibility of female sexuality in Julia Ducournau’s ‘Raw’
The coming-of-age film genre has a complicated relationship with female sexuality, often refusing to dig deep enough and explore the topic with adequate understanding and viscerality. Taboos surrounding female sexuality are hard-wired into our society – one that shames women for being both ‘prudes’ and ‘sluts’ in equal measure. Thus, the feminine transition from childhood to adulthood is often complicated and messy, affected by constantly contradictory societal pressures and expectations.
In Julia Ducournau’s debut film, Raw, released in 2016, female sexuality is explored through abject horror, using intense, carnivorous impulses to depict the overwhelming sensations that emerge during this transitional period, heightened by societal repression and stigma. Abject horror confronts us with the reality of our bodies, bringing us face to face with our own corporeality that we typically try to ignore. Yet, Ducournau leaves us nowhere to hide as she exposes us to sequences of stomach-turning cannibalism, whether that be through scenes of our protagonist eating her sister’s finger or munching on the brains of a car crash victim.
The film follows Justine, a sheltered vegetarian, as she begins veterinary school. Yet, disturbing hazing rituals, such as being covered in blood or force-fed rabbit kidneys, lead Justine down an unexpected path towards cannibalistic lust. No longer is she repulsed by the idea of eating flesh – she is enticed by it, whether it be animal or human. Justine enters into the sexual world while simultaneously attempting to satisfy her desperate urges for flesh, and the two needs soon overlap. In this respect, Ducournau allows cannibalism to act as a metaphor for unbridled desire – free from the chains of repression – which can come as a shock to even ourselves. Justine doesn’t know the limits of her desires – she needs flesh in any way she can get it.
Cannibalism as a metaphor for the intense need to consume and devour is nothing new per se, yet Ducournau breathes fresh life into the trope within Raw. The female body and burgeoning sexuality are depicted incredibly fluently and unapologetically, giving Justine total agency as she navigates her desires. By using a backdrop of violence and gore, Ducournau suggests that the effects of patriarchal repression can be catastrophic and overwhelming.
Raw injects humanity into the cannibalistic trope, showing how fragile our bodies really are. Humans have the capacity to eat each other if they so desire, and within the film, Justine comes to terms with the unbounded limits of her own body. Immersed in a world of casual sex, hedonistic parting and drinking, Justine is introduced to a new way of living that she has previously been hidden from. Yet, this atmosphere allows her perspective to shift and her desires to quickly show themselves, bubbling to the surface through a desperate need to consume.
Cannibalism is the ultimate act of satisfaction, satiating a character’s deep-rooted desire for something that feels incredibly foreign or abstract. Cannibalism is also an act of extreme power. Not only are you taking life from someone, you are ingesting it and taking it for yourself. Justine’s transition from uncertain and naive towards a greater level of self-confidence and sexual control is reflected in a newfound sense of self, as demonstrated by the mirror scene in which she kisses her reflection. In an interview with Hunger, Ducournau compares it to an earlier sequence where Justine throws up her hair, which she has been chewing on. The director states that in this later scene, “she has grown up [and] she actually tries to eat herself back as she tries to take full possession of her own body, and she start[s] being okay with these cravings and these desires.”
Raw’s preoccupation with visceral imagery allows the full scope of femininity to be shown, even when it’s at its most messy and unforgiving. For example, the bikini waxing scene features close-up shots of the hair – something that is rarely seen on screen. There is a refreshing level of honesty in this depiction of something that is usually kept behind closed doors – an act that is typically done out of adherence to patriarchal pressure is put on full display. Moreover, the sex scene between Justine and Adrien, which ends in her biting her arm as she climaxes, is uncomfortable and urgent, yet Ducournau gracefully manages to avoid making the scene feel gratuitous or objectifying.
In the same interview with Hunger, Ducournau explains how much the media associates female sexuality with victimhood, whereas “sexuality for me is in the body, and it’s in the now, not in the after. It’s not found in the projection of what could be. So I really wanted to portray a birth of sexuality that is just that, a desiring body, aiming at climax, like all other desiring bodies do. Unfortunately, we don’t really see this option, I would like this to be an option for young women to remind them that they can just enjoy the moment.”
Raw makes female sexuality and the female body visible, no matter what they look like. By leaning into violence, gore and stereotypically ‘gross’ yet natural bodily functions, such as bleeding, growing pubic hair, having a rash, and vomiting, Ducournau presents an unapologetically honest and visceral display of femininity that we are rarely awarded on screen.
