Raw (2017)
Julia Ducournau
"An animal that's tasted human flesh isn't safe."
There's an energy to Raw that is simultaneously grotesque and highly erotic. It's an uncomfortable film to watch, thanks in no small part to that tonal dichotomy. I've got to imagine that's exactly what Julie Ducournau hoped to achieve. There are sequences that are positively dream-like and others that feel viscerally real. The soundtrack thrums and pounds loudly and goes deathly silent. The film feels mysteriously bizarre, and yet all too familiar.
Someone far smarter than me could probably write 10,000 words about Raw. Every scene drips with the artistic control of Ducournau. This is a film fully realized by its writer/director, and there's an attention to detail and a patience with the filmmaking that shows both her confidence and skill. It's a work of disgusting brilliance and I really hope you give it a chance (as of October 4th, it's on Netflix).
At one point while watching the movie tonight, I paused it, threw the remote onto the couch and said "This is so fucking awesome." This was my second time seeing it, and getting a chance to catch my breath and reflect on the intensity of it all made me really happy.
Emily and I discussed how much I would divulge about the film in this review, and it's a struggle to know what to say. There's a lot to dissect (heh), but I don't want to ruin your first time seeing it by spoiling some of the more memorable scenes. It's a film full of symbolism, but I'd hardly call it difficult to parse. Saying too much would ruin the enjoyment of discovery.
If you have any interest in seeing Raw, go watch it before reading further.
Raw is the story of a young woman (Justine) who is matriculating into veterinary school. It begins with Justine and her parents at a buffet style restaurant. She's sticking to purely vegetarian options, but discovers a meatball somehow hidden in her mashed potatoes. Justine's mother is furious, and throws a fit at the restaurant; too much of a fit for such a small infraction. Justine's mother treats her like a child, and she does not seem to mind. Justine calls her mother "mommy" and appears bowed around her parents. The way Garance Marillier physically portrays Justine changes subtly but profoundly across the film, but at the start we see her at her most meek.
The journey that Justine takes to school is brilliant. There's almost no exposition here to introduce that she's becoming a veterinarian, so her initial experience at school (a bizarre hazing ritual that ends in a full blown European style rave) leaves us just as bewildered and confused as the poor incoming freshmen. Here we first meet Justine's roommate Adriene. She's dismayed that he's a man, saying that she requested a woman from school officials, but he calms her fears by telling her that he's gay.
Some of the students take to the hazing right away, rolling with the punches, accepting the punishment, and partying hard when bade to do so. Justine seems like a timid songbird among a sea of proud and confident peacocks while at the party. There's a sexual energy to the rave that Justine seems to be completely uncomfortable with. She careens around the party, apparently the only one trying to avoid physical contact as much as possible.
She eventually finds her older sister Alex, who looks like a very experienced party goer. Alex chides her younger sister for allowing their mother to hold so much sway over her, and encourages Justine to loosen up. All the female role models in Justine's life are trying to control her, rather than allowing her to express herself naturally.
To tease Justine, Alex takes her to a pitch black room on campus and plays with the lights, revealing flashes of what could easily be a 19th century carnival grotesquerie. Jars in the room are filled with all manner of animal fetuses and bizarre mutations, and Justine bumps into a sheep with a dozen legs attached to it in random places. Ducournau is giving us a hint of what's to come. There's a lot of horror tucked away in the dark corners of campus and in these characters.
Veterinary school is a naturally disturbing place for us non animal doctors, and the film does a great job of presenting the banality of dissecting dogs, or digging cow shit out of a bovine colon by hand. We're equally horrified at what the students are doing, and by their placid, almost disinterested reactions while doing it.
The hazing of the new students continues, and Justine is drenched in blood during the class photo. Then the freshman class is lined up in order to eat raw rabbit kidneys, which Justine is hesitant to take part in due to her militant vegetarianism. Alex doesn't want Justine to be an outsider, and forces her to eat it. She's forcing Justine to have her first sexual experience:
This is probably the first meat Justine has ever eaten, and she does not tolerate it well, either physically or emotionally.
The scratching in this scene is borderline body horror, and might be the thing that grosses me out the most, despite what is yet to come. This scene also reminds me of the urban legends that surround masturbation or promiscuity. Instead of just itchy palms, she's covered in an angry and painful looking rash.
Justine goes to the school medical center to have her rash tended to and has an interesting conversation with the doctor about fitting in. Here we learn that Justine is a virgin who considers herself to be quite average (despite her exceptional intelligence). The doctor tells her a story of an overweight girl who was turned away at other medical clinics because she was fat and different. The doctor urges Justine to "find a quiet place and keep her head down." This may be the best advice that Justine has received thus far.
As Justine's rash begins to clear up, she has some fresh and insatiable urges. Adriene takes her to a greasy truckstop on the highway that serves shwarma, and Justine loves it. She tells Adriene not to look at her while she takes giant greedy bites of meat. This is her discovering masturbation.
Later that night, Justine can't control herself:
Someone far smarter than me could probably write 10,000 words about Raw. Every scene drips with the artistic control of Ducournau. This is a film fully realized by its writer/director, and there's an attention to detail and a patience with the filmmaking that shows both her confidence and skill. It's a work of disgusting brilliance and I really hope you give it a chance (as of October 4th, it's on Netflix).
At one point while watching the movie tonight, I paused it, threw the remote onto the couch and said "This is so fucking awesome." This was my second time seeing it, and getting a chance to catch my breath and reflect on the intensity of it all made me really happy.
Emily and I discussed how much I would divulge about the film in this review, and it's a struggle to know what to say. There's a lot to dissect (heh), but I don't want to ruin your first time seeing it by spoiling some of the more memorable scenes. It's a film full of symbolism, but I'd hardly call it difficult to parse. Saying too much would ruin the enjoyment of discovery.
If you have any interest in seeing Raw, go watch it before reading further.
Raw is the story of a young woman (Justine) who is matriculating into veterinary school. It begins with Justine and her parents at a buffet style restaurant. She's sticking to purely vegetarian options, but discovers a meatball somehow hidden in her mashed potatoes. Justine's mother is furious, and throws a fit at the restaurant; too much of a fit for such a small infraction. Justine's mother treats her like a child, and she does not seem to mind. Justine calls her mother "mommy" and appears bowed around her parents. The way Garance Marillier physically portrays Justine changes subtly but profoundly across the film, but at the start we see her at her most meek.
The journey that Justine takes to school is brilliant. There's almost no exposition here to introduce that she's becoming a veterinarian, so her initial experience at school (a bizarre hazing ritual that ends in a full blown European style rave) leaves us just as bewildered and confused as the poor incoming freshmen. Here we first meet Justine's roommate Adriene. She's dismayed that he's a man, saying that she requested a woman from school officials, but he calms her fears by telling her that he's gay.
Some of the students take to the hazing right away, rolling with the punches, accepting the punishment, and partying hard when bade to do so. Justine seems like a timid songbird among a sea of proud and confident peacocks while at the party. There's a sexual energy to the rave that Justine seems to be completely uncomfortable with. She careens around the party, apparently the only one trying to avoid physical contact as much as possible.
She eventually finds her older sister Alex, who looks like a very experienced party goer. Alex chides her younger sister for allowing their mother to hold so much sway over her, and encourages Justine to loosen up. All the female role models in Justine's life are trying to control her, rather than allowing her to express herself naturally.
To tease Justine, Alex takes her to a pitch black room on campus and plays with the lights, revealing flashes of what could easily be a 19th century carnival grotesquerie. Jars in the room are filled with all manner of animal fetuses and bizarre mutations, and Justine bumps into a sheep with a dozen legs attached to it in random places. Ducournau is giving us a hint of what's to come. There's a lot of horror tucked away in the dark corners of campus and in these characters.
Veterinary school is a naturally disturbing place for us non animal doctors, and the film does a great job of presenting the banality of dissecting dogs, or digging cow shit out of a bovine colon by hand. We're equally horrified at what the students are doing, and by their placid, almost disinterested reactions while doing it.
The hazing of the new students continues, and Justine is drenched in blood during the class photo. Then the freshman class is lined up in order to eat raw rabbit kidneys, which Justine is hesitant to take part in due to her militant vegetarianism. Alex doesn't want Justine to be an outsider, and forces her to eat it. She's forcing Justine to have her first sexual experience:
This is probably the first meat Justine has ever eaten, and she does not tolerate it well, either physically or emotionally.
The scratching in this scene is borderline body horror, and might be the thing that grosses me out the most, despite what is yet to come. This scene also reminds me of the urban legends that surround masturbation or promiscuity. Instead of just itchy palms, she's covered in an angry and painful looking rash.
Justine goes to the school medical center to have her rash tended to and has an interesting conversation with the doctor about fitting in. Here we learn that Justine is a virgin who considers herself to be quite average (despite her exceptional intelligence). The doctor tells her a story of an overweight girl who was turned away at other medical clinics because she was fat and different. The doctor urges Justine to "find a quiet place and keep her head down." This may be the best advice that Justine has received thus far.
As Justine's rash begins to clear up, she has some fresh and insatiable urges. Adriene takes her to a greasy truckstop on the highway that serves shwarma, and Justine loves it. She tells Adriene not to look at her while she takes giant greedy bites of meat. This is her discovering masturbation.
Later that night, Justine can't control herself:
We know by this point that Justine's newfound hunger for flesh is a symbol for her burgeoning sexuality, but we haven't discovered how far it goes. Alex seems interested in helping her sister bloom a little more and recommends that she get rid of some of her body hair. Alex suggests a Brazilian wax, and offers to do it for her sister.
During the course of the waxing, Justine gets uncomfortable, kicks her sister, and accidentally causes Alex to cut off one of her own fingers with the scissors she's holding. Alex passes out from shock, and Justine tries to manage the situation. The rest is one of the best moments in the history of film:
During the course of the waxing, Justine gets uncomfortable, kicks her sister, and accidentally causes Alex to cut off one of her own fingers with the scissors she's holding. Alex passes out from shock, and Justine tries to manage the situation. The rest is one of the best moments in the history of film:
Yes it's gross, but it's beautifully filmed, the music is fucking awesome, and this act symbolizes something far more powerful than cannibalism: Justine has allowed her urges to cross over into rape. She's eating her sister's finger without her consent, and there's no small amount of shame she feels when her sister wakes up.
After her sister is released from the hospital (she tells the doctors and her parents that the dog ate her finger) she reveals to Justine that she understands her urges by taking her younger sister out to the highway and throwing herself in front of a car to cause an accident. While the occupants of the car lie bleeding and dying, Alex helps herself to to a nibble or two of the passenger's head wound. She's a predator, and is willing to kill to fulfill her urges. Justine is appalled, and tries to talk her sister out of doing this, but Alex has always been the wild one.
As Justine comes to grips with her new urges, she takes a bite out of a boy's lips during another hazing stunt, fucks and attempts to chow down on Adriene, and goes to a wild party where she asserts her new sexual confidence with as many people as possible.
There's a brilliant scene where Justine is watching Adriene play soccer. Knowing what we know about her, it looks like she's salivating over a cut of meat, but it can also be interpreted as a sexually aroused woman watching a good looking man run around half naked. And hey, with Raw, it's both!
I also absolutely love the scene where she dances in the mirror to one of the weirdest songs I've ever heard:
There's a brilliant scene where Justine is watching Adriene play soccer. Knowing what we know about her, it looks like she's salivating over a cut of meat, but it can also be interpreted as a sexually aroused woman watching a good looking man run around half naked. And hey, with Raw, it's both!
I also absolutely love the scene where she dances in the mirror to one of the weirdest songs I've ever heard:
Look at how confidently she carries herself. No more slouching or meekness; she is finally starting to love herself and accept her carnivorous nature.
While at a crazy hospital party, Justine gets blackout drunk, and Alex takes her into the morgue. The scene cuts to Justine waking up in bed the next morning. As she goes about her day, people give her sidelong glances, and one girl moves away from her in a lecture hall. Eventually Adriene reveals what happened: Alex took advantage of her sister's inebriation and taunted her with a cadaver's arm. A cell phone video captures Justine's animalistic hunger as she savagely lunges for the arm when Alex brings it closer to her.
The brutally unfair nature of being a girl these days is shown here. Yeah, it's weird that she's hungering after human flesh, but what's really happened is her sexual confidence and desire to experiment has resulted in a slut-shaming sex video. Her intimate secrets are out there for the world to see, and it's a humiliating experience. Justine turns her rage on her sister, and they have a vicious fight on campus. They only stop after they've taken chunks out of each other, and realize that they're so similar.
The next morning Justine wakes up lying next to Adriene. As she rouses, she slides her hands under the sheets towards him, but pulls back handfuls of blood. Adriene is dead, and his leg has been chewed to the bone. Justine assumes that she has eaten him in a fugue state, but finds a stab wound in his back and a trail of blood leading to her sister in the kitchen with gore running down her chin. Alex cannot be controlled, but Justine seems to sympathize, taking the time to gently clean her up.
With Alex in prison, and Justine back home, she is back on the vegetarian diet. Her mother is back to babying her, but her father has a more sympathetic angle. I'm enamored with this final scene:
While at a crazy hospital party, Justine gets blackout drunk, and Alex takes her into the morgue. The scene cuts to Justine waking up in bed the next morning. As she goes about her day, people give her sidelong glances, and one girl moves away from her in a lecture hall. Eventually Adriene reveals what happened: Alex took advantage of her sister's inebriation and taunted her with a cadaver's arm. A cell phone video captures Justine's animalistic hunger as she savagely lunges for the arm when Alex brings it closer to her.
The brutally unfair nature of being a girl these days is shown here. Yeah, it's weird that she's hungering after human flesh, but what's really happened is her sexual confidence and desire to experiment has resulted in a slut-shaming sex video. Her intimate secrets are out there for the world to see, and it's a humiliating experience. Justine turns her rage on her sister, and they have a vicious fight on campus. They only stop after they've taken chunks out of each other, and realize that they're so similar.
The next morning Justine wakes up lying next to Adriene. As she rouses, she slides her hands under the sheets towards him, but pulls back handfuls of blood. Adriene is dead, and his leg has been chewed to the bone. Justine assumes that she has eaten him in a fugue state, but finds a stab wound in his back and a trail of blood leading to her sister in the kitchen with gore running down her chin. Alex cannot be controlled, but Justine seems to sympathize, taking the time to gently clean her up.
With Alex in prison, and Justine back home, she is back on the vegetarian diet. Her mother is back to babying her, but her father has a more sympathetic angle. I'm enamored with this final scene:
There's no escaping fate or genetics, and this is just the sexual cross that Justine has to bear. Her face in this scene is perfect.
The question arises why Justine's parents didn't warn her of this unfortunate genetic condition while on their way to school. But, as Emily pointed out, what parent tells their child how great sex is, or how best to go about exploring their sexuality? It's just not a normal conversation to have, and college-age children exploring their own sexual desires is a natural part of growing up.
It's unfortunate, because developing a sexual identity can be a painful and confusing experience without some proper guidance. Alex was turned loose on the world without help and clearly struggled. With Justine, her father tries to impart some wisdom, but it's not going to be an easy journey for her or for the people she falls in love with.
Unless, maybe, they're into that sort of thing...
The question arises why Justine's parents didn't warn her of this unfortunate genetic condition while on their way to school. But, as Emily pointed out, what parent tells their child how great sex is, or how best to go about exploring their sexuality? It's just not a normal conversation to have, and college-age children exploring their own sexual desires is a natural part of growing up.
It's unfortunate, because developing a sexual identity can be a painful and confusing experience without some proper guidance. Alex was turned loose on the world without help and clearly struggled. With Justine, her father tries to impart some wisdom, but it's not going to be an easy journey for her or for the people she falls in love with.
Unless, maybe, they're into that sort of thing...
Summary:
Raw isn't for everyone, even I'll admit that. However, if you're not completely squeamish and you can take a little viscera with your eroticism, Raw is an excellent feminist study of developing sexuality in a brutal world. It's probably the best movie I've seen in 2017, and I can't recommend it enough.
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