Justine's (Garance Marillier) arrival at the "prestigious" veterinary school in French countryside is followed by a night of hazing of the newly arrived freshmen, in addition to an all-nighter of a party in which pretty much everyone is either drunk, tripping on hallucinogenic drugs, or participating in a free-for-all orgy until the break of dawn (somehow no adult is every present to control these young "doctors" in training). A vegetarian all her life, Justine is forced to eat a rabbit kidney during the hazing initiation, and somehow, this sparks a never before felt hunger in her for meat - and not just poultry or beef. Soon she's feasting on her sister's freshly severed finger, biting a classmate's lip off, and even penetrating her own flesh with her teeth during sexual intercourse, just so her thirst for blood can be quenched.
Julia Ducournau's film, Raw, is a coming of age story as much as its allegorical subtext is about out-of-control cannibalistic urges that go unmanaged, especially since its subjects are way too young and inexperienced to know how to properly deal with them. The final scene, between Justine and her father, in which he explains their family history to her, is both shocking and revelatory in just the right amounts. Raw may not have reinvented the horror genre - as so many pundits have declared - but it'll definitely shock, disgust and disturb you all the same. I imagine that was its director's intention in the first place.
B
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