Body horror, a subgenre of horror that delves into the visceral and grotesque violations of the human body, occupies a distinctive and unsettling space in cinema. As a genre that takes pride in showcasing nightmarish transformations, mutilations, and mutations, body horror reveals the raw and often uncomfortable truths about the human condition. Films like “The Fly,” “The Brood,” “Hellraiser,” “Videodrome,” and the recent “The Substance” reflect not only primal anxieties and physical decay but also the fragility of our humanity. In the realm of body horror, few films leave as indelible a mark as Julia Ducournau’s debut movie “Raw” (2016), who established herself as the protégé of ‘the king of body horror’ David Cronenberg, a reputation she further solidified with her sophomore feature “Titane” (2021).
It is a French-Belgian horror that juxtaposes cannibalism with the sinister initiation rituals of college hazing, weaving a dark allegory that explores the dichotomies of abstinence and excess, self-restraint, and unbridled indulgence. Set against the backdrop of a prestigious veterinary school, “Raw” is about 16-year-old Justine who discovers her emerging taste for human flesh after a brutal initiation. A haunting allegory of consumption and desire, “Raw” probes the question of what it means to be human.
Ducournau adopts a Cronenberg-esque style in “Raw,” characterized by flesh fascination and unflinching use of the camera to confront the most graphic and disturbing realities. Through unrelenting close-ups, unwavering refusal to aestheticize violence, and subversion of the male gaze, she resonates with the legacy of David Cronenberg. In “Raw,” Ducournau crafts a haunting narrative that challenges societal norms surrounding femininity and sexuality, delving into the primal instincts that lie beneath the surface of well-mannered existence. Through the lens of cannibalism, it provocatively examines the dichotomy between human and beast, exploring the unsettling implications of their merging.
This write-up provides a holistic understanding of the film delving into its major themes and motifs. Refrain from reading the article if you haven’t watched the movie as the article may contain major spoilers.
Raw (2016) Movie Synopsis & Plot Summary:
Prologue
“Raw” opens with a prologue featuring a young woman walking down a long road. Her figure gradually dissolves into the surrounding foliage. A sudden cut introduces an oncoming vehicle from the other side of the road, its headlights casting an ominous glow. But when the camera returns to the woman’s location, she has vanished. The sound design masterfully amplifies tension as the car approaches, its engine roaring to a deafening crescendo. Suddenly, the woman bursts from the trees, startling both the driver and the viewer.
The car veers wildly to avoid her, but fate proves inescapable – it crashes into a tree with a sickening crunch, its occupants reduced to lifeless, mangled forms. The woman lies motionless for a beat, then rises with an unnerving calmness. Her deliberate strides toward the wreckage are accompanied by a jarring string orchestration, swelling to a heart-stopping climax before abruptly surrendering to an unsettling silence. The title card erupts onto the screen, its blood-red hue searing the retina – a haunting harbinger of the carnage to come.
Why Is Justine A Vegetarian?
In stark contrast to the earlier burst of violence, the scene seamlessly shifts to Justine (Garance Marillier), a bright-eyed young woman, with an unmistakable air of innocence, choosing her food options at the counter at a quaint restaurant. At the counter, Justine politely declines the offer of protein, affirming her steadfast vegetarian convictions. However, upon joining her parents (Joana Preiss and Laurent Lucas) for the meal, she notices something off with the food. Despite making her intentions known, a careless mistake lands meat on her plate. Her mother swiftly confronts the kitchen staff, chastising the restaurant for disrupting their family’s values. Justine and her father exchange knowing smiles, familiar with her mother’s fervent reactions.
After the incident, the family embarks on a drive to the reputable Saint-Exupéry Veterinary School, where Justine will begin her first semester. As they travel, Justine absorbs the warmth between her parents and basks in the sun’s gentle rays. Lost in the moment, she begins to self-soothe, her reverie interrupted by the family dog’s affectionate licks. This playful intrusion symbolizes the end of Justine’s sheltered youth. Her parents provide practical guidance on nearby amenities: the grocery store, morgue, and medical facilities – institutions where flesh is transformed into food, cadavers, and patients. With the assumption that her sophomore sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) will collect her, Justine’s parents depart. However, Alexia’s absence forces Justine to navigate her new surroundings alone.
Coming from an overprotective mother who’s heavily instilled a vegetarian lifestyle in the family, Justine appears as an introverted personality. Her demeanor betrays a deep-seated apprehension, stemming from the weight of lofty expectations. As the daughter of two esteemed alumni, Justine is poised to embark on her own journey at the prestigious veterinary institute, following in the footsteps of her parents.
What Does Justine Endure At The Initiation?
As night descends, Justine is woken up from sleep by her affable gay roommate Adrien (Rabah Nait Oufella), who enters her room wielding a ski pole. Initially alarmed, Justine expresses her concerns about their unexpected cohabitation, but it is swiftly alleviated as Adrien reveals his queer identity, implying the college’s logic in pairing them. However, before Justine can process this new dynamic, their dorm room is breached by a marauding gang of masked assailants.
They forcibly expel the freshmen into the hallway and their belongings are hurled out the window. The masked group’s true intentions soon emerge: this mayhem is merely a hazing ritual. The fresh batch of students is humiliated, forced to strip and crawl, giving you a subtle reminder of Pasolini’s “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” only to be invited to a pulsating rave.
At the party, Justine, bewildered and disoriented, navigates a sea of sweat-drenched bodies amidst vibrant blues and reds. As Justine traverses this labyrinthine realm of excess, she spots Adrien lost in fervent intimacy with another. Undeterred, she presses on, eventually finding solace in her sister Alexia’s embrace. Reunited, the sisters share a moment of unbridled excitement. Alexia whisks Justine away to reveal a hidden secret, further initiating her into the enigmatic world of veterinary school. Alexia presents Justine with unsettling archival photos of students drenched in blood, including a haunting image of their parents.
As classes commence, the students observe a surgical procedure on a sedated horse. Justine’s face contorted in distress, her eyes widening as she witnessed the majestic creature, once radiating strength and vigor, now reduced to a state of helpless submission. As Justine delves deeper into veterinary school, her views on animal physiology and rights spark intense debates among her peers. Meanwhile, the semester’s progression introduces her to the quintessential student stressors: grueling exams, social gossip, and professorial politics.
The next morning, Justine poses with her fellow freshers for the class photo. A drop of crimson splashes onto her pristine white coat, followed by a deluge of blood that engulfs her and her classmates. This splattering of blood is a baptism of sorts, consecrating their initiation. The ritual takes a darker turn as the newcomers are coerced into consuming raw rabbit kidneys, a sacramental offering, demanding their unwavering commitment. Despite Justine’s protests of devout vegetarianism, Alexia’s insistence overrides her protests and forces her to eat the offending organ. Justine leaves with Adrien whose steadying presence proves her sole anchor.
What Changes Does Justine Undergo Post-hazing?
Alexia’s act of force-feeding raw meat to Justine left her reeling and disoriented. Justine’s reaction is extreme and physical – she soon develops an unsightly, itchy rash across her body. Seeking medical attention, she goes to the school nurse. On being asked about contraception, Justine reveals that she is still a virgin. She receives a diagnosis of food poisoning and a prescription cream to alleviate the dermatological symptoms.
Upon returning from the hospital, Justine is confronted by a senior who forcibly subjects her to a humiliating ritual. Discovering Justine’s noncompliance with the dress code, the senior commands her to wear a diaper as punishment and she had to sit through a lecture wearing the same, further eroding her already fragile dignity. Justine goes to Alexia to borrow a dress and heels to avoid further humiliation. When she returns to her room, she accidentally stumbles upon Adrien receiving oral sex from his partner.
The following day, Justine develops a gnawing desire for meat. Her newfound carnivorous cravings overwhelm her, inducing profound shame. Her failed attempt to pilfer a burger from the cafeteria prompts a clandestine, late-night excursion with Adrien. On the way to the gas station outside the campus, they witness a major car crash eerily resembling the crash at the beginning of the film. She decides to eat outside the campus so that no one will see her eating meat.
She surrenders to her desires and indulges in eating meat excessively. However, her satiation proves fleeting, and Justine’s hunger drives her to consume raw chicken the next morning. She also partakes in nauseating habits like hair chewing after being reprimanded by a professor for letting Adrien cheat on a test. Afterward, her body rebels, expelling a disturbing bundle of her own hair.
How Did Alexia Lose Her Finger?
That evening, after feeling isolated and lonely, Justine meets up with Alexia. In a moment of sisterly bonding, Alexia shows Justine how to pee standing up, while Justine pees all over herself. Justine invites herself to Alexia’s room where Alexia attempts to give her a bikini wax. But when Alexia tries to cut the wax off with sharp scissors, Justine kicks her away and Alexia accidentally cuts off her own left middle finger. Alexia faints and Justine picks up the finger to place it on ice.
In a grotesque twist of events, Justine’s primal instincts resurface. She tastes the blood on the finger and starts eating it like a buffalo wing while her sister lies unconscious, bleeding profusely. Alexia awakens to behold the unspeakable horror: Justine devouring her severed digit with carnivorous relish. At the hospital, when enquired by her parents about what transpired, Alexia concocts an alibi, attributing the gruesome injury to their family dog, Quicky.
Extremely disturbed by her own actions, Justine lashes out at her mom and runs outside where she is confronted by her father. He tells her that Quicky needs to be put down since it is not safe to have an animal that has tasted human flesh. Justine’s father doesn’t realize that it was his own daughter who satisfied her hunger by consuming human flesh.
Who Causes The Accidents On The Road?
The following morning, Alexia orchestrates a gruesome lesson for Justine on a deserted road. She intentionally steps into the path of an oncoming car, triggering a catastrophic collision that leaves two innocent passengers injured. Alexia gets up from the middle of the road and walks towards the vehicle. She opens the car door and inspects the occupants, concluding that they are possibly dead. She starts eating the head of the passenger so that her sister will “learn.”
This incident reveals that Alexia also exhibits a craving for human flesh. Justine realizes that Alexia has been causing the accidents she had witnessed earlier and the audience registers that it was Alexia who ran in front of the car at the beginning of the film. Justine is disgusted by this revelation that Alexia has been killing innocent people to fulfill her insatiable hunger. Alexia’s actions are calculated and aimed at indoctrinating Justine into their twisted world. Even though Justine’s revulsion struggles against her burgeoning cannibalistic drives, she walks away.
What Happens Between Justine And Adrien?
Despite her initial dismay, Justine’s cravings intensify, fixating and lusting after Adrien. While putting on his surgical gown, she intensely stares at his neck and later watches him playing shirtless during a soccer match. She bleeds from her nose showing how she is suppressing her hunger. That evening, she dresses in Alexia’s clothes and dances in front of a mirror to a raunchy song.
We see Justine coming out of her shell without abandon. Later, she attends a party where another hazing ritual unfolds. Paint-splattered and humiliated, Justine is coerced into a forced kiss with a boy. Her primal instincts resurface, and she bites off the middle of his lip, leaving others perplexed and revolted. Seeking solace, Justine returns to her dorm and purges the evidence in a shower. The chunk of flesh extracted from her teeth becomes her dark indulgence.
Confiding in Adrien, Justine surrenders to her desires. Their intimacy escalates and they end up having wild, animalistic sex. Justine’s self-control falters and she tries to bite Adrien but instead bites her own arm until it bleeds profusely, seeming to orgasm while doing so. Adrien’s intimate encounter with Justine alongside her complex relationship with carnivorous desires suggests a parallel between sexual exploration and gastronomic appetite – both are just relations to enjoying flesh. Later in class, Adrien admits that he regrets their sexual encounter having profound pride in his queerness.
Raw (2016) Movie Ending Explained:
How Did Adrien Die?
At another party, Justine becomes extremely intoxicated and Alexia takes her to the morgue. The chaotic night culminates in a graphic ordeal where a visibly ill Justine attempts to bite out of the arm of a corpse crawling on all fours under Alexia’s encouragement, as dozens of students record the disturbing incident. The next day, Adrien presents Justine with the incriminating footage, prompting her to confront Alexia. Their confrontation explodes into a violent and ferocious fight, driven by pent-up rage, guilt, and insatiable hunger. The brawl unexpectedly devolves into a grotesque feeding frenzy, with the sisters biting and consuming each other’s flesh in full view of their horrified classmates. They are pulled apart by other students. Justine helps Alexia up, and they walk each other back to their dorms.
The following morning, Justine awakens beside Adrien and notices she is covered in blood. When she pulls off the blankets, she finds Adrien dead with most of his right leg eaten and a stab wound in his back, from the end of a ski pole. Justine stares at the mirror to figure out if she is responsible for his death. Justine’s gaze then falls upon Alexia, slumped on the floor, her body smeared with blood. Initially, Justine’s shock gives way to rage, accusing Alexia of the heinous crime. However, in a disturbing display of sibling loyalty, Justine’s anger subsides, replaced by a twisted sense of solidarity. Together, they cleanse themselves of the carnage in the shower, washing away the evidence of their macabre night.
What’s The Secret Behind Justine And Alexia’s Cannibalism?
Alexia is imprisoned for the murder of Adrien. When Justine visits Alexia at the prison, their images overlap and fuse and then split apart indicating they have created an identity for themselves. Justine is sent back home where Justine’s father receives her with compassion and understanding. In the domestic setting, Justine is asked by her mother to eat her greens.
Wearing a red shirt, she refuses to eat her vegetarian meal. She’s trying to figure out a way to maintain a private space for her desire that won’t land her in jail like Alexia. Justine’s father reassures her that the tragic events surrounding Adrien’s murder are neither her nor Alexia’s fault. With a deep sigh, he begins to recount his past, revealing the mysterious circumstances surrounding his relationship with their mother. He recalls how perplexed he was by her initial reluctance to be with him, only to discover the truth in their first kiss – indicating a scar on his lip.
Opening his shirt, he exposes his profusely bitten and scarred torso, bearing witness to the family’s gruesome legacy. Chunks of his chest are missing, a testament to the primal forces that have shaped their lives. Thus we realize that craving for human flesh runs in the family as her mother also has cannibalistic urges. That’s the reason why her mother brought them up as strict vegetarians.
Yet, amidst this revelation, Justine’s father offers hope. With unwavering conviction, he assures her that a solution exists and that Justine will find a way to navigate her own struggles. Justine’s parents have recontextualized cannibalism as an expression of lovemaking and erotic intimacy. Within their relationship, they have normalized the consumption of flesh as a manifestation of desire. He carved out a space for Justine’s mother’s desire to operate in an “acceptable” manner. This revelation from her father confirms that there are pathways to tame her desire and act on it.
If you ask me how Justine’s mother became an insatiable cannibal, I would say it may be a centuries-old familial affliction that was passed down through their mother’s lineage. Or it could be a blood-borne pathogen that rewires their brains, inducing an uncontrollable craving for human tissue. Or she could be a descendant of an ancient group or cult that inherited the dark legacy of ritualistic cannibalism. Apart from these literal explanations, the film holds a lot of metaphorical and symbolic meaning. Let’s get right into it then.
Raw (2016) Movie Themes Analyzed:
Metaphor Of Monstrous Cannibalistic Awakening
Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” is a coming-of-age story with a twist—more like a coming-of-cannibalism tale in which Justine experiences the challenges and confusion of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Justine transforms from a naïve virginal vegetarian to a flesh-hungry cannibal, something monstrous, blurring the lines between human behavior and primal instinct.
The film illustrates how societal norms repress natural desires. Justine’s cannibalistic urges symbolize the release of these suppressed instincts, depicting the monster within that emerges when societal constraints are removed. Justine’s awakening signifies a loss of innocence representing the darker aspects of human nature that often remain hidden beneath a veneer of civility. Cannibalism serves as a metaphor for the exploration of forbidden desires and the consequences of indulging in them. Justine’s cravings become a manifestation of her burgeoning sexuality and appetite for life. The film also emphasizes how one can discover one’s humanity through monstrosity.
Carnality And Primitivism
Oftentimes as a society, we forget that despite our elevated cognitive abilities and intellectual prowess, human beings are inherently animals. “Raw” explores the primal aspects of human nature, blurring the lines between civilization and savagery and the human-animal divide. An early scene showcases Justine, Adrien and their peers engaged in a heated discussion on the equivalency of monkey and human sexual assault, raising questions about the emotional toll on both. Justine advocates for equal consideration of pain and emotional strife in animals and humans, setting the tone for the film’s nuanced exploration. Vivid imagery, including running horses, gut cleaning of cows, and cadaver dissections, underscores the parallels between animal and human physiology and behavior.
When Justine and Adrien indulge in shawarma at the gas station, they are approached by a local sex worker. He rubs Adrien’s face and explains that he has a pig in his truck for blood transfusions. He asks, “Pigs are almost like humans. Have you learned that yet?” Throughout the film, it is shown that the soon-to-be vets are treated no better than animals, mirroring them with animals.
We soon witness how Justine surrenders herself to animalistic and carnal urges like eating raw chicken and having raw and fierce sex with Adrien. She resembles a pig at first, repulsive and self-indulgent before she turns into something more beastly. While discussing our primal nature and instincts, “Raw” also deliberates on the ethical implications of inherent animalism within humanity.
Sisterhood And Sibling Rivalry
“Raw” centers around the complex familial bond between sisters Alexia and Justine, juxtaposing their divergent personalities. Initially, Justine embodies the archetype of the innocent, naive younger sibling, while Alexia exemplifies rebelliousness and nonconformity. As the narrative unfolds, the film primarily follows Justine’s transformative journey into Alexia’s domain, where she is gradually initiated into a darker, more primal world. Alexia’s influence manipulatively reshapes Justine’s identity, coaxing her toward a more traditionally feminine, yet cannibalistic, iteration of herself. Justine’s transformation into a cannibalistic being contrasts with Alexia’s more aggressive embrace of her desires.
This duality highlights how different responses to similar pressures can shape individual identities. However, their sisterly dynamic becomes increasingly strained as jealousy simmers, fueled by rival affection for Adrien. The ultimate confrontation between them serves as a powerful moment of conflict, reflecting how sisterly bonds can be both nurturing and destructive. This tension ultimately culminates in tragedy, with Adrien’s gruesome demise. Despite this devastating rift, the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood persist, underscoring the profound, often disturbing, connections between family members.
A Critique Of Female Sexuality And Bodily Autonomy
In “Raw,” Ducournau walks us through the metamorphosis of Justine from a sheltered teen living under her parents’ shadow to an empowered woman exploring her physicality and sexuality. Her transformation is both psychological and physical. Through the metaphor of cannibalism, she gets liberated from her safety cocoon and undergoes the process of discovering herself, trying out new identities, and discovering her pleasures. It also signifies her liberation from societal norms of femininity, suppressed instincts, and desires, coded through her appetite for flesh. She turns into a ‘vampiric’ monstrous feminine to challenge those acts that are often deemed unacceptable or monstrous by society, that is, expressing one’s sexuality and agency.
Justine’s cannibalistic cravings can be viewed as an extreme manifestation of oral fixation. Her need to consume flesh reflects not only her primal urges but also a deeper longing for connection and understanding of her own identity. This act becomes a way for her to assert agency over her body and desires. Justine’s hunger for flesh is closely linked to her burgeoning sexuality and this duality highlights the tension between societal expectations of female behavior and the raw, unfiltered desires that women experience. Justine’s struggle with her newfound cravings creates a conflict between her moral compass and her desires. This tension emphasizes the idea that female desire is often seen as taboo or dangerous.
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