Dir. Julia Ducournau | Now Streaming On: Prime | Rating: 4/5

When Raw first screened at Cannes, I was in my first semester of college, on campus at a notorious film school in Boston (I didn’t study film haha, I was there for a communications program). I remember walking into my dorm and a group of film majors talking about people fainting during the screening. It took me almost 5 years to get around to watching Raw, but I’m glad I did.

Raw brings a beautifully palatable (no pun intended) lens to arthouse. It’s almost unbelievable that this is Ducournau’s directorial debut. The color palette and shots are stunning, but we shouldn’t expect anything less from a French horror. It stands apart from its contemporaries with its well fleshed out (I’m on a roll with the puns) storyline and stellar cast.

Films of the cannibal subgenre are linked closely to themes of primal urge and animalistic behavior. This often comes across in the presentation as characters being uncivilized or unintelligent, think Texas Chainsaw or Hills Have Eyes. Raw veers from this trope and instead portrays the cast as deeply intellectual and emotionally complex, appealing to the idea that none of us are above our primal urges.

Raw calls itself a coming of age horror and I couldn’t agree more. It adds a poignant outlook to Justine’s exploration of her identity, sexuality, and desires. Becoming independent after being stifled by your parents is scary and Garance Marillier sells this as Justine.

Though I didn’t faint while watching Raw, the body horror in this film is impressive. It is tastefully done (last one, I promise) but pushed into the viewer’s face with prolonged shots of blood, flesh, and gore. There are also several shots of surgical procedures on animals that might make some viewers queasy. Raw did lose me in the last 3 minutes, where the final twist falls flat for me. But overall, this watch is enchanting in its own way and a vital piece of feminine storytelling from this genre.

Know Before You Watch: Features extreme body horror, blood, death, animal death, animal violence, nudity, sex.