Raw (2016) review

29. Raw (2016)

Directed by: Julia Ducournau

Produced by: Jean de Forêts

Screenplay by: Julia Ducournau

Starring: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Laurent Lucas

Okay, just hear me out for a minute. It’s a coming-of-age drama…about a girl in veterinary school…who discovers that she has a craving…for human flesh. Yeah, you could probably tell based on that if you even want to attempt watching something like “Raw,” an example of the New French Extremity movement of films that are graphic and gory but also stylized and nuanced. It hardly even qualifies as a horror film, yet it’s so blunt, grisly and uncompromising that it is almost guaranteed to elicit feelings of disgust and discomfort. And God bless it, it’s brilliant at how it accomplishes it; I’m not saying you’ll enjoy it, and it probably runs too long, but there’s something weirdly evocative about just how harshly and fervently it hits you.

Justine (Garance Marillier) is a lifelong vegetarian who begins her first semester at a school where her sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) is already attending. As part of the week-long hazing ritual, the new class is splattered with blood and made to eat raw rabbit kidneys, which Justine does reluctantly. Soon after, she starts to crave meat, much to her chagrin; but a gas station sandwich and early-morning raw chicken don’t appease her. Then after a bikini wax mishap results in Alexia’s finger getting cut off, Justine eats it; she’s disgusted with herself, but Alexia is understanding, given that she suffers from the same hunger. Justine’s cravings only grow stronger as time passes, and they start to come out in strange and sometimes explicit ways, particularly with her roommate Adrien (Rabah Nait Oufella).

In case you’re wondering, no, there is nothing supernatural about Justine’s affliction; she’s not a zombie or vampire or any particular monster, she just happens to have this hunger, and it’s portrayed surprisingly tenderly. Much like a drug or sex addiction, we see how it affects her physically as well as mentally; it starts with a strong, itchy rash on her body, and just keeps progressing as she starts losing her long-guarded inhibitions. Garance Marillier has this magnetic intensity in her body language, making Justine almost beastly but still somehow relatable; the scenes where she’s trying to resist and actually experiences degrees of withdrawal over it are honestly hard to watch, and makes for tense sequences filled with paranoia. Marillier, Ella Rumpf and Rabah Nait Oufella have great chemistry, creating these bonds that help keep the movie emotionally grounded. There are some extraneous elements regarding the actual relationships, but they don’t take too much away.

I appreciate the attitude that’s tossed around about this whole thing, like it’s just this peccadillo that anybody could have. It kind of helps you forget about how sick the idea is; when it screened at film festivals, some viewers fainted, and subsequent theaters actually supplied vomit bags. Yes, it does go needlessly overboard at times; I think the movie would have been better served to go more psychological rather than relying too much on shock value. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still here; but I wanted something out of a David Lynch film, just really drive home that feeling of desperation. But the music, cinematography and dialogue are sharp and effective, making for an appropriate blend of body horror, witty comedy and teen drama. There’s also something I find darkly comedic about how it ends, with the final image basically amounting to, “You’ll figure it out,” accompanied by a man missing chunks of flesh out of his chest.

Honestly, this is a hard one for me to even comment on; how does one describe the appeal of a movie about a college-age cannibal? I guess you just have to go in expecting something shocking, but not necessarily scary; if you’re immediately turned off by the concept, I can’t blame you. But the tone and performances are top-notch; it’s great, crafty work by director/writer Julia Ducournau, who’s not done shamelessly flooring moviegoers. Her next effort—which just came out earlier this month—was “Titane,” a thriller about a woman who becomes pregnant after having sex with a car…what strange times we do live in. “Raw” is vulgar, appalling and bizarre, but I have a curious appreciation for it precisely for all of those reasons; if you can decipher the subtext beneath the carnage, you might find something with a taste all its own.

My rating: 8.5/10