"When one interacts with the other, both are forever changed." by Julianne Bell 27. MAN & MACHINE: When one interacts with the other, both are forever changed. Titane It’s a tale as old as time, right? Girl fucks car, girl becomes pregnant with a monster car baby, girl murders a slew of party guests and impersonates a grieving middle-aged man’s long-missing son to hide from the law. French director and screenwriter Julia Ducournau’s 2021 body horror psychological drama and feature film debut Titane is one of the weirdest, most sui generis films I have ever watched, and that’s not even the most interesting thing about it. French journalist, model, and actress (triple threat!) Agathe Rousselle stars as Alexia, who suffers an injury in a car crash as a child and is fitted with a titanium plate in her head. As a result, she develops a sexual fascination with cars and grows up to be a serial killer who moonlights as a motor show model. After a carnal encounter with a Cadillac, she discovers she’s pregnant, kills several guests at a house party, and flees, eventually disguising herself as “Adrien,” a fire captain’s son who went missing 10 years ago. Perhaps due to delusion or plain old wishful thinking, the fire captain, Vincent, welcomes this androgynous stranger into his home with open arms and no DNA test.It all sounds patently ludicrous on paper, but a distinctly human heart beats beneath all that gore and metal. Ducournau stubbornly maintains empathy for her characters and manages to tell a story about the fluidity of identity, the fine line between artifice and authenticity, and the miracle of finding love and connection in the most unexpected places. The Stranger is participating in Scarecrow Video’s Psychotronic Challenge all month long! Every October, Scarecrow puts together a list of cinematic themes and invites folks to follow along and watch a horror, sci-fi, or fantasy flick that meets the criteria. This year, Stranger staffers are joining the fun and we’re sharing our daily recommendations here on Slog! Read more about Scarecrow’s 2024 challenge—and get the watch list—here. And you can track our daily recommendations here! 💀