Raw (2016)

Now you might not have heard of the film, or the cast or the director but you would have definitely heard of the stories. Go ahead and have a google. When this film was screened people vomited. Someone fainted. Oh yeah, that cannibal film. So Raw had the buzz, it had the reputation in spades. But did it live up to that? If you're expecting hardcore torture porn and aggressive violence, this won't do it. I didn't throw up, nor did I faint, but two people in my screening did walk out.

So we follow protagonist, Justine, played by Garance Marillier, as she starts her first year at university at a prestigious veterinary school. She travels with her parents, all three of them vegetarians, and we briefly see her relationship with them. Her mother more highly strung than her father who flips out when her daughter is accidentally given meat. She then joins her sister who is an 'elder', already studying and established in the school. After some consistent hazing Justine is forced to eat raw rabbit kidneys. Again, when introduced with meat we are introduced fully to her relationship with her family and see how her sister treats her. Justine has a physical reaction to the meat by coming out in an aggressive rash, but that doesn't stop her hunger, she begins stealing meat, from the canteen and from her roommates fridge. She gets braver and more daring alongside getting more confused and misunderstood. Her new relationship with her male roommate is strained as she becomes tempted by his literal flesh. Her relationship with him, her sister and her newly discovered feelings all meet at an intertwined crescendo.

Now as a spectator I encourage feeling uncomfortable. The fact someone has created something that has affected how you feel is incredible. And in this day and age and what we all have access to, it can be hard to do that. There are some scenes which are uncomfortable. The first time Justine tried human meat, that's uncomfortable. The scene leading up to that where she has getting an extremely close bikini wax, that's uncomfortable. Her pulling her own chewed up hair from the back of her throat, that's uncomfortable. A lot of the imagery definitely suggests to worse things. The opening scene to the film is unexpected and jarring, right off the bat we're told how this film will play out. Every time we're shown something  a bit disturbing we're reassured that it might happen again. There might be something worse.

Visually it was still stunning. The film switches between wide landscape shots with a solitary character small somewhere within the frame to tight imposing close ups. Mise-en-scene is heavy on the realism, with it being in a veterinary school, there's lots of whites and grey, lots of dulled colours. Justine is seldom in bright clothing or make up. The blood is rarely bright, but deep and tired, stained on clothes and surfaces. Even the party scenes are some how partly unsaturated and washed out. The sound again is quite realistic, though with an abrupt score in parts. A strong focus on the sounds of meat and flesh to keep is as authentic as possible.

Okay let's talk about ladies. Female writer and director, Julia Ducournau, is fantastic, Raw is her first feature length and I'll be keeping an eye out for her. As a woman, I hate the phrase, 'as a woman', but as a woman, I like watching women. And I find that there can be a difference in how a woman presents other women on screen. Now I won't go too into feminism and all that, but there is a lot to say with this film. Ever watch a film and know that someone is gonna go to a film school and do a case study on it? Well this is one of those films. Not preachy but a lot of underlying things. You can easily make a blood/period connection but that's kinda basic. 

One of the things I enjoyed the most was Justine slowly acknowledging her hunger for meat, human meat. The male gaze gets reversed as she leers at her male roommate. The camera lingers on his body, at first in a sexual way then more in a predatory way. In return Justine is never viewed in a sexual way, though we see her undress, we see her body and we see her vulnerable it's never sexual, the camera doesn't take advantage of her. We are all very much on her side, we watch she grow. Both Justine's self discovery unto cannibalism as well as an adult. It's a coming of age story, We experience what could be her first kiss, as well as her first time having sex. We're there through her first time away from home, the first time she doesn't get top marks in class. There's a lot of firsts and a lot of growth for Justine.

There are a fair few things I haven't touched on in the review as I wanted to keep this spoiler free. I suggest watching it, waiting, then discussing with someone. This is a film that needs to settle and needs discussion. Promising future for the cast, crew and the genre. 7/10

CINEMATES - A