She got pregnant with the car. It’s the plot of the Golden Palm movie in Cannes, but they’re even stranger

Usually, when we hear that a film won the Palme d’Or at the prestigious Cannes festival, we expect rather a highly artistic, serious work, with psychological depth and a poignant, dramatic plot.

Pregnancy with a car the way to the Palme d’Or

The summary of the Polish distributor of the film “Titane” shows, in a nutshell, the load of creativity and creative disinvolution shown by the author of the script and director Julia Ducournau:

Alexia murders without blinking an eye, but when a police cordon follows her, she resembles the son of the fire brigade commander who was lost years ago. On the way, however, she becomes pregnant with … a car.

Let us add that Alexia suffered a car accident as a child and as a result, doctors put a titanium plate in her skull. In the meantime, it turns out that diesel is literally flowing in her veins, black substance oozes from the wounds, and metal is peeking out from under her skin. As an adult woman, she becomes an almost erotic dancer and murders. And when the police are chasing her, she changes identity and pretends to be a missing boy. And that’s just the beginning of the movie. Critics agree that no synopsis can reflect what is happening in the film Ducournau. You might think that the production is “crazy”, absurd or ridiculous – but the jury’s verdict strongly contradicts this.

At the same festival, the honorable group clearly showed that they value creativity. The Icelandic film “Lamb” received a special award for originality. Let us add that this one was created with the participation of the Polish Film Institute and, in addition, will compete for an Oscar nomination in the best international film category.

At first glance, the plot sounds inconspicuous: just the story of a couple who live with a herd of sheep on a beautiful farm in the Icelandic wilderness. “They find an unusual newborn on it, whom they decide to raise as their own child. The unexpected prospect of enlarging the family brings them a lot of happiness, but ultimately leads to a tragedy” – we read. The perspective is changed by a key fact: this “extraordinary newborn” is a lamb, and his birth is accompanied by extraordinary events, which makes the whole story bordering on a dark fairy tale and horror.

Of course, “Lamb” and “Titane” are not the first cases of artistic films that captivated fans of artistic and independent cinema. In 2016, the film turned out to be one of the biggest sensations of the American Sundance festival “The Pocket Knife Man” with Daniel Radcliff as a farting corpse that is also a life raft.

The story specifically tells about Hank, abandoned on a deserted island, who is close to committing suicide. Unexpectedly, he notices a man lying on the seashore – as it turns out he is dead: Radcliffe was played in that role. The corpse is already bloated with putrefactive gases, which proves to be a great advantage. The survivor uses the body as a life raft – he miraculously manages to swim ashore. On the way, he becomes so close to the deceased that he names him Manny. Manny is talking to him in a way. When they reach the mainland, Hank feels very lost, so he drags Manny’s corpse everywhere with him – their journey through the jungle is accompanied by a whole host of absurd adventures.

We decided to select a few more productions for you with equally bizarre script summaries.

• “Lord Lonely”, dir. Harmony Korine (2007)

A young man living in Paris earns a living as a Michael Jackson double. She dances in the streets, in public parks, in tourist places and at fairs. During a performance at a retirement home, she meets a look-alike, Marilyn Monroe. Enchanted, he follows her to a commune in the Scottish Highlands, joining her husband who looks like Charlie Chaplin and her daughter who looks like Shirley Temple.

The second thread of the film tells about a nunnery in a developing country. One of the nuns experiences a fall from a plane while on a mission to deliver food to villages and discovers that if you are sincere, God will protect you. All the nuns then start jumping from the airplanes to show that they have a sincere heart and are protected by God.

• “Barbarian Nymphomaniac in Dinosaur Hell”, dir. Brett Piper (1990)

Grade B movies, including sci-fi ones, have a rich tradition when it comes to absurd storylines. Here the title speaks for itself – the viewer gets exactly what he expects.

• “Nazi surfers must die!”, Dir. Peter George (1987)

A low-budget film doesn’t have the best reviews … And the plot? The earthquake is destroying the California coast. A group of neo-Nazi surfers led by Adolf (Barry Brenner), the self-proclaimed “Führer of the new beach”, take advantage of the resulting chaos by battling several rival surfing gangs to take control of the beaches.

Meanwhile, an oil well worker named Leroy (Robert Harden) is killed by the Nazis while jogging on the beach. Leroy’s mother, “Mom” Washington (Gail Neely), devastated by the loss of her son, vows revenge. Armed with a pistol and grenades, he escapes from the retirement home and takes revenge on the surf Nazis.

• “Liquid Sky”, reż. Slava Tsukerman (1982)

Invisible aliens in small flying saucers come to earth in search of heroin. They land on the roof of a skyscraper in Manhattan above the apartment of the local dealer and his partner, an addicted model. Aliens discover that human pheromones secreted during sex have an effect similar to heroin. So they start collecting pheromones. A scientist of German origin follows them.

• “Welcome Home Brother Charles”, reż. Jamaa Fanaka (1975)

The unjustly convicted Charles Murray is released from prison. The man takes revenge on his enemies with his grasping penis, which is the result of a crazy scientific experiment. The film was made on weekends for seven months while the director was a student at UCLA Film School. In 2018, the movie was released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

• “Murderous Tire”, dir. Quentin Dupieux (2010)

Murderous tire Photo Materials of the Białystok Cultural Center

A tire named Robert comes to life. First, he learns to get up and roll spontaneously, and over time he realizes that he can kill little creatures by destroying them. He also soon discovers that he is capable of murdering large animals and humans using psychokinetic powers. Robert goes on a murderous escapade through the California desert.

• “Meat in love”, dir. Jan Svankmajer (1989)

Captivating short animation: Two pieces of meat fall in love with each other. The chops start to dance.

• “Koara kachô”, dir. Minoru Kawasaki (2005)

Keeichi Tamura is the head of the department of the company dealing in the distribution of pickled preserves. In many ways, he is a typical guy in Japan: divorced, shy and very hardworking. He is very successful at work and plans to start a family with his girlfriend Yoko.

However, when one day his beloved is found dead, detectives suspect him of murder. Tamura wants to prove her innocence, but the stories of other people indicate that she may have memory problems. Oh, and the big point: Tamura is a bipedal, shirt and tie wearing koala bear.