Picture: David Cronenberg, Lars Von Trier and H. P. Lovecraft make a movie, but they only take the good parts of their works and cut out the silly, boring and ugly bits. Still you will not have as beautiful, evocative and disturbing of a film as Julia Ducournau's RAW, a movie that immediately takes you hostage and never lets you go. Here is a gut churning, deeply alive work that assaults you with disgusting, thought provoking and existential horror until you can't take anymore. It's a good thing that I felt more anxious than excited at the end, that is the mark of good filmmaking.
RAW takes place in a veterinary school from hell, when we first see it it is too big, isolated and Gothic to comprehend. Justine (Garance Marillier) comes to the school after her parents and sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf). She is immediately alone and in over her head; the school has a series of sadistic hazing rituals that involve excessive drinking, violent raids, Carrie reenactments and eating raw meat, even for Justine the vegetarian. The audience is immediately hit with the cruelty of this world, a school doctor tells a story about a large girl who cried when her weight was finally ignored, the women share tips on how to most effectively be bulimic. It's so gratifying when a movie does this, unlike other recent brilliant horror films like Get Out or Don't Breathe, there is no normal here. When the world of the film becomes more and more bizarre, we as an audience have nothing to stand on.
And oh, the film becomes bizarre. But like any good film, the insane images are grounded in reality, character and story. The horrific sequences in this movie are beautiful to watch , the colors and cinematography look like paintings. Justine is starting to crave raw meat, there's a short but gorgeous scene where she kneels feral in front of a refrigerator tearing into a chicken breast. Because this is a horror film, the best meat is soon revealed to be human and it is because of Marillier's brilliant performance that we are able to see just how painful but exciting this new desire is.
The meat isn't meat in RAW, it is a very clear metaphor for Justine's sexual liberation. In one of the best scenes of the movie, Justine watches her male friend play soccer shirtless; it is simultaneously deeply terrifying and erotic moment that Ducournau directs in a way that feels exactly right. At a certain point in the film, we can never guess if Justine is hungry or aroused.
Violence has been a semi sexual act in horror for years, but with this film it feels fresh, the desires and reactions are all new. They are also deeply troubling and have a beautiful intensity to them that can only be described as animal or inhuman. Ducournau is at her best here, the erotic and gory passages of the film are directed with the skill and confidence of an old master returning to the screen, not someone in their debut.
What makes RAW so good though is how massive it seems. With a few exceptions, horror is a small genre. Often horror films lack a cosmic significance; they fail to have implications beyond the characters on screen. Through her haunting images, brilliant world building and disturbing soundtrack, Ducournau communicates something larger. Female sexuality, from this film, isn't something to be taking lightly. Justine's self discovery is a ferocious and earth shattering moment, after which no one will be the same.
RAW takes place in a veterinary school from hell, when we first see it it is too big, isolated and Gothic to comprehend. Justine (Garance Marillier) comes to the school after her parents and sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf). She is immediately alone and in over her head; the school has a series of sadistic hazing rituals that involve excessive drinking, violent raids, Carrie reenactments and eating raw meat, even for Justine the vegetarian. The audience is immediately hit with the cruelty of this world, a school doctor tells a story about a large girl who cried when her weight was finally ignored, the women share tips on how to most effectively be bulimic. It's so gratifying when a movie does this, unlike other recent brilliant horror films like Get Out or Don't Breathe, there is no normal here. When the world of the film becomes more and more bizarre, we as an audience have nothing to stand on.
And oh, the film becomes bizarre. But like any good film, the insane images are grounded in reality, character and story. The horrific sequences in this movie are beautiful to watch , the colors and cinematography look like paintings. Justine is starting to crave raw meat, there's a short but gorgeous scene where she kneels feral in front of a refrigerator tearing into a chicken breast. Because this is a horror film, the best meat is soon revealed to be human and it is because of Marillier's brilliant performance that we are able to see just how painful but exciting this new desire is.
The meat isn't meat in RAW, it is a very clear metaphor for Justine's sexual liberation. In one of the best scenes of the movie, Justine watches her male friend play soccer shirtless; it is simultaneously deeply terrifying and erotic moment that Ducournau directs in a way that feels exactly right. At a certain point in the film, we can never guess if Justine is hungry or aroused.
Violence has been a semi sexual act in horror for years, but with this film it feels fresh, the desires and reactions are all new. They are also deeply troubling and have a beautiful intensity to them that can only be described as animal or inhuman. Ducournau is at her best here, the erotic and gory passages of the film are directed with the skill and confidence of an old master returning to the screen, not someone in their debut.
What makes RAW so good though is how massive it seems. With a few exceptions, horror is a small genre. Often horror films lack a cosmic significance; they fail to have implications beyond the characters on screen. Through her haunting images, brilliant world building and disturbing soundtrack, Ducournau communicates something larger. Female sexuality, from this film, isn't something to be taking lightly. Justine's self discovery is a ferocious and earth shattering moment, after which no one will be the same.