The return of the in-person Cannes Film Festival ended on a high with Julia Ducournau's Palme d'Or win for her second feature film Titane, which also makes her only the second woman to ever win the prestigious award. While French audiences had the lucky chance to catch the award-winning film right after the festival, American viewers will have to wait until the fall with the announcement of a new theatrical release date on October 1. NEON quickly snapped up the rights to distribute the film in North America, just after its announcement back in 2019.
While critical reviews have heaped praise upon the film, including our own Collider review denouncing it as a "psychosexual thriller that's unlike anything you've ever seen," actual plotlines are kept in the dark. The synopsis only offers a brief description of what "titane" is — a metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion. And instead of shedding some light on the story, the first trailer just gives audiences a glimpse at the weird images and intense tone they can expect. In fact, there's absolutely no dialogue in the trailer, only an amalgamation of bizarre and eccentric scenes cut together.
This comes as no surprise from the director of Raw, the breakaway horror hit about a young university student who slowly succumbs to cannibalism. Raw also premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews, which highlighted its originality and spin on the coming-of-age genre. It's also a great addition for those who appreciate body horror (that waxing scene just viscerally popped in my mind), and Titane supposedly follows in that same tradition. Ducournau is certainly making a name for herself in weird horror, and hopefully, U.S. audiences will catch on before some big studio snaps her up.
NEON's announcement advertising the new release date highlights one of the more provocative images from the film. One of the female characters, barely dressed in anything besides a pink bikini top and bright fishnet stockings splays her body on top of a car overdecorated with bright flames. If it wasn't for the background behind Ducournau, you would think this was an ad for a Fast and Furious movie.
The fall release date for the film might just appeal to horror fanatics looking for their kicks during Halloween season, but it might also indicate that NEON is planning an awards campaign for the film. With their own Parasite breaking the barrier for "international" films by picking up Best Picture, maybe we'll see Titane joining its predecessor (although something tells me that this might shock the Academy instead of titillate).
Titane will hit American theaters on October 1.