In the summer of '23 I decided to do an impromptu Director Focus on French newcomer, Julia Ducournau. There's not a whole lot I have to say in this spot at the moment, honestly. Titane exploded after it won the Palme d'Or in 2021 and made seemingly every top 10 list. It's easily her best effort to date, although I still found it to be heavily flawed. Her first proper feature Raw left me cold and I wouldn't recommend it, and her early TV film Mange has some interesting things in it. In some ways, her debut short Junior is perhaps the best thing she's made this point from a storytelling perspective, and I swear I'm not trolling when I say that.
While I'm not sold on her work yet, she's clearly an "auteur" and I do look forward to checking in on her future projects.
JULIA DUCOURNAU FEATURE FILM RANKING
3. Raw
2. Mange
1. Titane