Titane premiere: On the red carpet with Julia Ducournau, Agathe Rouselle and Vincent Lindon at London Film Festival 2021

Titane (French for titanium) is Julia Ducournau’s daringly provocative body-horror follow-up to 2016 feature debut Raw. It stars first-time actor Agathe Rouselle as Alexia, who is involved in a car accident caused by her father as a child and left with a metal plate in her head. As an adult, she’s a dancer at car shows and when a creepy fan takes things too far she takes brutal revenge, but then must go on the run, setting in train an unexpected set of events.

The violent, gruesome, off-the-wall film that explores trauma, identity and love has divided critics but has also won Ducournau the Palme D’Or at Cannes.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to the director and her cast on the red carpet at the BFI London Film Festival.

Ducournau told us about casting Rouselle as her murderous, androgynous, car-shagging lead Alexia, and how, despite its hyper-sensational story and aesthetic, the film is ultimately about unconditional love. She also shared how it felt to be the second-ever female director to win the Palme D’Or at Cannes and what she believes female filmmakers can bring to the screen.

Rousselle told us about her experience of working with Ducournau and how she saw her character.

And Vincent Lindon also spoke about what appealed to him about being involved with the project: “When I read the script, it was like when you fall in love – it doesn’t go through the brain it goes direct directly to the heart.” 

Sarah Bradbury
Videos: Weronika Kulesza

Titane does not have a UK release date yet. Read our review here.

Read more reviews and interviews from our London Film Festival 2021 coverage here.

For further information about the festival visit the official BFI website here.

Watch the trailer for Titane here: