Well, that just happened. I agree with most Amazon reviewers (who agree with most critics) that Julia Ducournau's grisly paen to Vegetarianism is, well, its something. Highly original. Well-crafted. Not what I was expecting. In a word, mildly or very shocking.
Raw concerns a young French woman who is attending a Veterinary School as a "Rookie" -- a school where her sister is already a more experienced student. Following a very strange Hazing of the new students, the film takes several left turns about 1/3 of the way through, and it is not a spoiler to say that Cannibalism is involved. But, and here is perhaps Ducournau's brilliance, you hardly notice it is happening, and then it is just part of the fabric of the story. The very banality of the consuming of human flesh is what makes it so frightening.
Raw may not interrogate the boundaries of what is acceptable in Cinema, but it sure asks some interesting questions. No, post- House of 1,000 Corpses, post- Green Inferno, even post- Human Centipede, it is pretty hard to call anything genuinely shocking, or beyond the pale. I would say gut-wrenching is more the right description.
Garance Marillier plays Justine with just the right blend of wide-eyed naivete and clear-eyed commitment to the cause. The cause, here, being trying not to succumb to the strange illness that she has contracted from consuming, well, it would be a spoiler to say what.
It is possible to admire the film craftspersonship here, without buying in to the horror genre shock. Not easy, but possible. Definitely worth a watch if you love Cinema.
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