Its a very particular balance of genres managed by a very particular director.
Heres how that conversation went down with one spoiler that we try, pretty hard, to dance around.
Lets start at the beginning.
What was the first image you imagined for this film?
Sometimes it is an image, indeed, but not this time.
The same with movies about incest, even if there is way fewer of them.
Whenever you talk about such a subject you always put it at the human level.
With cannibalism it is very different.
They come and attack.
It was around that question that I started buildingRaw.
There is something in cannibalism that is to do with bodies.
This says something about our animality.
Maybe Im an odd example but I dont feel the compulsion to bite.
But still, when I was watching your film, my reactions were incredibly visceral.
When you react physically it is your body in the light of its own history.
You are not passive, you are inside of the experience.
I really like that, and its why I engage with the grammar of body horror.
Id like to talk about each of those.
Are there any organising principles you want to discuss in the palette of this movie?
I want to talk about light first then come back to colour.
That was the first way to determine the angle I wanted to tackle in this movie.
There had to be coherence, and for me it was found in a paradoxical strategy.
I didnt want any doubt that these are cannibals, not vampires.
It was very important vampires dont exist, cannibals do.
It created the feel that something more belonging to genre realms a shower of blood is coming.
I really like to use this kind of colour scheme in scenes that could have been incredibly naturalistic.
The directors and DoPs I admire the most, what they do with colour is amazing.
To clarify for my readers, this particular effect was specifically created by bouncing light from a magenta reflector…
Yes, in this scene that was the case, and in other scenes as well.
But what was also important was how we would break the continuity of the light.
For example in Justines room, I decided that the light should move according to her internal state.
Sometimes, the light is white on her, then on the next scene it would be orange.
Thats what I wanted.
I know what you mean.
Its very hard to talk about that and avoid spoilers, but for me theres nothing fantastic about it.
For me, there is a very medical explanation.
Its certainly not undermining what has gone before, saying this does not exist.
I would love to think about the music.
I think theyre very interesting in contrast.
Was this all Jim [Williams, the composer] or did you tell him what you wanted here?
Its a big thing because I dont like electronic music and I dont like layers.
Also, Jim is a great theme composer.
From the beginning, I wanted big themes in my movie.
We started with the idea that we would work with themes.
The one you are talking about, Justines theme, is the one that morphed the most.
He had the brilliant idea of having the organ.
Im looking for crossover movies, like this trinity of comedy, drama and body horror.
I want a chance to crossover even more the next time.
Honestly, I have no idea.
Ive got tons of ideas but it would takes ages to talk about them now.
Then I hope we get to talk again when the next idea makes it to the screen.
Thank you Julia Ducournau.
Rawis in UK cinemas from April 7th.
