For her solo directorial debut, French filmmaker Julia Ducournau explores the horrors of identity and sexuality with Raw, her unapologetically ferocious coming-of-age tale that’s brutal and unnerving, with notes of pitch-black comedy coursing through its veins. It’s not unusual to see genre tropes used as allegorical material for the awfulness that comes with growing up, but the way Raw presents these themes in such an unapologetic and unforgiving manner makes Ducournau’s first feature something wholly unique and not to be missed.
Becoming an adult sucks—a lesson that Justine (Garance Marillier) learns very early on once she arrives as a freshman at a veterinary school in Raw, following in the footsteps of both her parents and her willful sister, Alexia (Ella Rumpf). Justine has always been a model student and daughter, but she finds her moral code challenged immediately as she realizes that being away from school is going to rock the very foundation of everything she’s always believed in. The very first night she and her fellow first-year classmates arrive to begin their studies, they’re awakened during a hazing ritual that ushers them into a new way of life, where the older students are there to make their lives a living hell through various embarrassing and sometimes destructive methods, and the newbies must abide by their rules, or else suffer the consequences.
One day, Justine is asked to eat a raw rabbit kidney as part of a tradition that all new students go through, and as a lifelong vegetarian, she’s repulsed by the task. But after she partakes due to some peer pressure from her sister, Justine awakens the next day with a mysterious rash, and an even more unexpected thirst for human flesh, which manifests itself in some truly horrifying ways the deeper her hunger grows.
While it may be easy to draw parallels between Ducournau’s Raw and films like Ginger Snaps or anything from David Cronenberg’s early career, her harshly poignant examination of youth culture is told with such a defiant voice that there’s no doubt that her scorching vision on display here is undeniably a distinct one that’s all her own. There’s an unforgiving nature to the way Justine is introduced into adulthood—a frenzy of pranks, orgy-fueled raves, relentless hazing rituals and harassment—and it’s a ruthless environment that the young woman is ill-prepared to navigate her way through, that is until her true self becomes actualized. That’s when we see Justine undergo an insatiable metamorphosis as she struggles with her identity and how to keep her newfound cravings at bay.
Her newly developed condition is something that helps unite Justine with Alexia, who has become the black sheep of her family after she left for school, but the relationship the two sisters share is anything but ordinary. In fact, oftentimes it is Alexia who torments and tortures Justine the worst of all, proving that those who love you can often be the very same people who hurt you the most in life. There’s a complex and sometimes cruel dynamic shared between the sisters, and both Marillier and Rumpf are absolutely stunning in their respective roles, pushing the boundaries of sibling rivalry into an uncomfortable (and blood-soaked) territory.
Raw has become somewhat infamous now on the festival scene, with various reports of folks fainting during screenings due to the graphic nature of Ducournau’s material. And yes, while I will admit there were a few times when even I had to look away, there’s really not a lot here that genre fans haven’t seen before (although I will say Raw’s final special effects gag was by far one of the most horrific things I’ve seen in a movie since the bisection scene from last year’s Bone Tomahawk). In some cases, the gore is even treated in a humorous manner, to the point where I found myself quietly cackling with outright glee, especially during a particular scene involving a chopped-off finger that Justine feels inclined to devour, and the film’s final moments that bring everything full circle for poor Justine.
A bold and fiercely unflinching debut for Ducournau, Raw absolutely left me wrecked (in the best possible way). There’s a challenging nature to the way the material is presented here, but that’s the point of a film like this. The world can be a relentless and unforgiving environment, especially when you’re on the cusp of adulthood and trying to just figure out your place in it all, and the way the film’s protagonist deals with those issues, in addition to her burgeoning carnivorous nature, is masterful storytelling, plain and simple. With Raw, Ducournau deftly establishes herself as one of the most exciting up-and-coming filmmakers in the world, and I eagerly await whatever she does next.
Movie Score: 4.5/5
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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