The exceptionally assured feature debut of French
writer-director Julia Ducournau, “Raw” is a deeply unnerving coming-of-age
story and must-see viewing for iron-stomached horror fans.
The film
follows 16-year-old Justine (Garance Marillier), a strict vegetarian with a deep and abiding
love of animals, who is on her way to her first year of veterinary school.
Sweet-natured but slightly awkward, Justine immediately has trouble fitting in
with her fellow students as they revel in the debaucherous
atmosphere that marks most adolescent’s first collective taste of freedom. It’s
a new world Justine finds herself spectacularly ill-equipped to handle.
Justine’s
older sister, Alexia (Ella Rumpf), is also enrolled
at the institute, and is one of the upperclassmen who delight in tormenting the
incoming freshmen with sadistic hazing rituals involving sleep deprivation or
dousing them in buckets of pig’s blood. (I have no idea what kind of research
Ducournau did before writing the script, but French veterinarians seem a little
high strung.) One crucial rite of passage requires ingesting a raw rabbit
kidney, and Justine adamantly refuses to take part until Alexia forces her
hand. That experience has an unintended effect, however, awakening in the young
girl a craving for raw meat which eventually blossoms into an insatiable hunger
for human flesh.
While
rendered in grisly, lurid detail, the blossoming cannibalism depicted in “Raw”
is an obvious allegory for collegiate self-discovery; of indulging too much and
losing control. Ducournau makes a strong point about how there’s no winning for
women: either they’re criticized for being too prudish about giving into their
carnal desires or they’re vilified for wanting it too much. And the film has
plenty more on its mind, touching on issues of sexuality, identity, sibling
rivalry, and misogyny. These themes aren’t always fully developed, but they add
up to a captivating whole.
Marillier is wonderful, evolving from naive child to
ravenous predator; we’re fearful for Justine until it becomes apparent her
fellow students should probably be more afraid of her. She nurses an attraction
for her gay roommate Adrien (RabahNaitOufella), and as she watches
a shirtless Adrien play soccer on the quad, we can’t entirely tell whether she
wants to sleep with him or take a bite out of him.
“Raw” has
its share of cringe-inducing, gross-out moments (Cronenbergian
body horror abounds), and the film made headlines during its film festival
rounds after several audience members supposedly fainted when faced with some
of the films more intense moments of bodily desecration. This side of the
film’s hype is perhaps a bit overblown: there’s nothing here any experienced
horror fan can’t handle. The intense atmosphere is raised even higher by Jim
Williams’ score, which veers between mellow violin and piano, before kicking
things up a notch with bursts of gothic organ.
Suspenseful,
visually exciting, and occasionally nauseating, “Raw” makes me excited to see
where Julia Ducournau goes next. With her first feature, she makes the kind of
indelible debut that leaves one hungry for more.
Check back on Friday for additional film coverage, including a review of the heist comedy
“Going in Style.”
This article appears in Apr 5-11, 2017.
