This document provides an analysis of the final scene of the 2016 French horror/drama film Raw directed by Julia Ducournau. The analysis discusses the scene context, camerawork, editing, sound, mise-en-scene, and themes. The final scene reveals to the main character Justine that her father has scars on his chest from being eaten by her mother in the past, showing the family has a history with cannibalism. The camerawork, editing, sound, and lighting are discussed in detail to show how they enhance the shocking revelation and intimacy of the scene without overly drawing attention. The analysis also discusses how the film explores themes of sisterhood and personal growth through dealing with one's dark desires

1. Film Analysis
Rob Ryan

2. RAW (2016)
Genre: Horror/Drama
Director: Julia Ducournau
Producer: Jean Des Forets
Cinematographer: Ruben Impens
Composer: Jim Williams

3. Synopsis
• In Justine’s family everyone is a vet and a vegetarian. At 16, she’s a
gifted teen ready to take on her first year in vet school, where her
older sister also studies. There, she gets no time to settle: hazing
starts right away. Justine is forced to eat raw meat for the first time in
her life. Unexpected consequences emerge as her true self begins to
form.

4. SCENE ANALYSIS

5. SCENE CONTEXT
• A scene from this film that I am going to be analysing from Raw is the final scene of
the movie. After Justine's sister Alex is arrested after killing Adrian (Justine's love intrest) and
eating off his leg, she is taken home by her parents. During a dinner conversation, Justine's
farther then revels to her that her mother had cannibalistic urges when they first met in college
but they found a way to make their relationship work. He opens up his shirt to reveal his chest
which has pieces of flesh missing. After giving Justine a few seconds to let this news sink in, he
then informs her that he hopes that he will find a solution to her problem.

6. CAMERAWORK
• From a cinematography standpoint the first 40 seconds of this scene is done using medium shots, seeing how the conversation
starts in a pretty mundane manner with Justine's mother requesting her to finish her vegetables before she levees the room
following up with her dad telling her that what happened wasn't her fault. However, once the scene is about to revel something of
importance to the viewer the scene is then told from POV shots from both Justine and her farther. This choice is changing camera
angles I feel is the director emphasising the viewer that this scene demands your full attention as something important is about to
be reviled, and that change in mood I feel is translated perfectly through the changing camera angles. Even though they are in the
same room and there isn't a change in location the emotion quickly changes from being calm to uncomfortable very
quickly. During my first viewing of this film I immediately felt uneasy and couldn't help but be drawn in. The main reason I
felt uncomfortable is because POV shots in horror films are mainly to show the point of view of the antagonist. Take the opening
scene of the first Halloween movie where the film shows a POV shot of young Michael Meyers walking into his house and killing
his Sister. The POV shots in the final scene Raw however serve a completely different purpose, this obvious due to the lack of
handheld camera work that you would see in a horror film like Halloween. The shots are still simply because the emotion of the
scene is calm and quiet with no danger despite the shocking revelation. While the father is explaining his backstory to Justine the
shots change from being a POV to a close up of him. With this I can interpret that this choice in angle is meant to give off a feeling
of intimacy within the farther almost like this is a documentary and we are interviewing the farther and his say on all the events in
the film. As soon the farther is done explaining his story to Justine on how me met her mother and how she had cannibalistic urges
the scene the close ups then cut back to being wide POV shots so that the viewer is presented this information perfectly without
any close ups of the wounds or camera movements around the wound and let the scene speak for itself. As the farther is opening
his shirt and showing all the bits of his flesh that have been eaten intercut with Justine reacting with shock, the final POV shot
of the film is the farther stating that he hopes she will find a solution to her problem.

7. Editing
• The rhythm of this scene is slow paced but it doesn't feel like the scene is dragging.
Simply because the editing is done in a way where each shot shows something important
to the viewer and cuts when it needs to. For example, the shot where the farther is
taking his shirt off to reveal the wounds lasts about 5 seconds before being intercut with
Justine reacting to it in shock which lasts about 2 seconds before it cuts back to the
farther who has finished taking off the buttons of his shirt of and you can fully see all of
the wounds in his chest. I think the reason why the shot of the farther removing the
buttons of his shirt to reveal the wounds lasts about 5 seconds is that it gives the viewer
enough time to react alongside Justine as the film cuts to her reaction. Quickly showing
the viewer of Justine's shock and surprise of this information that she and we never
knew before. Another example of this is can be seen when the farther talks about how
he met her mother and how she had cannibalistic urges as well as talking about how his
relationship with her sister. This part is condensed to 2 shots. One is a POV the other is
an extreme close up, both last around 15-25 seconds. This suggests that the focus is now
being pulled away from Justine and its now all about the dad and his side of the story
and the lack of cuts in this bit allows the viewer to engage emotionally with this
character without any cuts that interrupt the focus of this scene.

8. Sound
• The sound in this scene is all done through the dialogue with some minor background noise with
hardly any music or loud sound effects. The only time music comes in is when the scene ends
when the end credits come in. I feel this choice in sound suggests that the director wants to let
the mood and situation of this scene guide the viewers emotions as opposed to loud music and
sound effects to tell the audience how to feel. The lack of music in this scene helps this scene play
out naturally almost as if this is real life where there is no music playing during a conversation.
Because this reveal this very shocking and disturbing it does not need dramatic music to tell you
that its shocking, it lets the emotion of the scene speak for itself. It shows the director's respect
for the audience to understand the emotion of a scene without having any diegetic sounds tell
you how to feel. Having this scene play without any music allows the viewer to not to be
distracted from what is being said in the dialogue, for example the farther giving his
little speech to Justine I feel would have been hard to fully process in your head if music had
been playing so the lack of any music in this scene puts further emphasis on
the viewers' attention to be focused on his dialogue and nothing else.

9. MISE EN SCENE
During the final scene of Raw, Justine is wearing a red shirt. According to the colour wheel pro red is a colour associated with energy, danger, determination, desire and love. These
are traits that I feel that are very apparent in the way the film develops her character throughout the film, and these traits are even more apparent when she starts to become a
cannibal. For example the danger comes in when her lust for flesh increasingly starts to manifest her mentally and anyone who she has ever been close with has had paid the
consequences of having a part of their flesh being bitten off. Not just the people she knows so well have had to pay the price but also other people who have tried to have their way
with her have had some part of their flesh bitten off. Another example of this is energy which I feel is also presented through her lust for human flesh which allows her as a person to
change from a shy and introverted individual to a savage, aggressive and uncontrollable human being. Almost like a hungry animal that needs food as quickly as possible and will stop
at nothing to get it. Her character gets increasingly more obsessed to a point of her being able to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Desire plays a big part in her lust for flesh She
hangs out with Adrien not just because of her admiration of him as a person but she is also wanting to eat some of his flesh because he is a very fit person with a lot of meat she can
chew on, desire can also be shown when she is starting vetinary school . A profession that her family have been doing for generations so naturally she will want to live up to the family
name which leads to Determination, Justine is not only willing to do well in school but as the film progresses she then is determined to not let her obsession get the best of her even
though it is very hard to. is in Despite all these dark qualities of her character that doesn't make her completely heartless. She is very loving towards her sister Alex inspire of their
flawed relationship. This is shown when Justine is in a position to kill Alex using a ski pole after she killed Adrien but the fact that she decides not to shows that there is still some
compassion left within her.
During the final scene of Raw Justine’s farther is wearing a Olive green shirt which according to the colour wheel pro is the traditional colour of peace. Because it is established that
the farther has found a way for him and his wife to make their relationship work the peace that his shirt symbolises could mean that he can finally rest from all of the struggles of his
relationship with his wife and not worry about a single problem that he experienced in the past. Which would lead to his wife eating off all of the flesh in his chest. The fact that he
and his wife have found a solution to his wife's problem means that he is now at peace and can move on without any worries. In terms of props the only one that comes to mind is the
cigarette the farther is smoking. In literary terms characters may smoke because they need personal time to thing evaluate and contemplate which I feel is a possibility given the
events in the film and now Alex is locked behind bars her farther is going to need time to asses the situation at hand as well as contemplate as how to deal with this situation and
decide what's best for Justine. Smoking may also represent relaxation time after hard work so smoking may also be another way the farther is able to move on and relax from all of
the stuff he has had to put up with since being with his cannibalistic wife.
The final scene of Raw is shot using high key lighting with a hint of high contrast lighting which shows up in close ups of these characters faces. You can see that one side of their face
has a shadow covering it whereas the other side shows some brightness. From this I can interpret that this choice in lighting is to give a subtle hint that these characters may look like
normal individuals but each one has a dark side to them and that they are not perfect People. The lighting I feel gives a sense that the people you see here may look like everyday
people in a everyday dining room but the shade on their face shows that they are far from a normal family and they have either seen enough disturbing stuff or have disturbing stuff
happen to them. It shows that they are far from perfect and have scares that will never heal. Whether if that means literal scars or scared mentally.

10. THEMES:

11. • The theme of sisterhood and growing as a person is present throughout a majority of this film. This is evident through the way the film
develops both Justine and Alex's experience with cannibalism and how they deal with it. When Alex started veterinary school a year before
Justine, she had to undergo the same exact experience that you see Justine go through in the film. However, Alex had to go through this
traumatizing change all on her own with hardly any friends or family members to help her cope. Justine on the other hand had Alex to help
her reassure that what she's going through isn't in her head. A reassurance that Alex never had. Before Justine arrived, Alex had to give up
her sanity as a result of being volatile in order to deal with her violent desires. By the end of the film though Alex can no longer control her
violent desires and ends up killing Justine's roommate and is thrown in prison in the process but because Justine had her sister to help her
understand her issue and maintain some level of sanity she ends up going home to her beloved parents. During the scene where Alex forces
Justine to eat a rabbit's kidney as part of a hazing ritual (which is what sets of Justine's increasing lust for flesh) she does so with the full
knowledge on where it will lead given she experienced this last year. This choice seems like an attempt to help Justine fit in with the rest of
the crowd. Experiencing Cannibalism for a year has made Alex desperate to fit in with the norm and probably doesn't want Justine to
experience the same isolation as she did, this is further evident when Alex says the line "Don't start the year by chickening out, they're
watching " which shows her desperation for her sister to not to stand out as looser or be lonely. Alex in some ways opens up to her sister
about the struggle to control her uncontrollable desires by jumping in front of cars and swerving them off the road and killing the injured
passengers in the process but Justine is so repulsed by her sisters actions that she choices to ignore her sister which sends Alex into a
downward spiral which leads to her killing Justine's love interest as well as doing a bunch of other cruel actions against her sister such as
posting a video online where an intoxicated Justine is attacking dead bodies at a morgue. Alex has always been there for Justine but now
Alex has instead decided to punish Justine for what she sees is her selfishness. As the older sister Alex is meant to be the protector to
Justine but there is no one to protect Alex from her desires. However with her presence Justine can cope with her problem but Alex
throughout the movie is getting worse. With this I can interpret that the message here that the film is trying to get across is that the dark
parts of you (in this case cannibalism) maybe hard to accept but with enough emotional support it is possible to control them and make
your life easier and through the sisters loving bond Justine is able to be free of the pain that would come if she let her obsession consumer
her as a person and Alex ends up paying the price. Which plays well into the theme of growing as a person and that it's important to
acknowledge the darker parts of yourself instead of pretending that they don't exist other wise it will only get worse.

12. AUTER ANALYSIS

13. • This is Julia Ducournau’s first feature film debut so as a filmmaker stylistically she hasn’t fully
established herself as an auteur like some of the greatest filmmakers of all time. However some
of her early work including one short and a TV movie do share some similar themes and subject
matters that come into play in Raw. For example in her very first short Junior (which is also about
a girl named Justine and is played by the same actress who plays her in Raw) It follows a 13-year-
old girl who is going through a change in her body. In this case it’s about a stomach virus and this
character goes through a bizarre metamorphosis which according to Wikipedia means "The
Process of transformation from an immature form to an adult in two or more distinct stages" Raw
is classed as a coming of age story but with a cannibalistic element that helps the main character
to a more mature and different person to what they were at the beginning and Junior covers a
lot of the same ground in that it's a coming of age story but it tells it in a different way with a
shorter runtime Both films are about the changes in personality weather if that change is
physically or mentally, In Raw its mentally and Junior covers the physical aspect of coming of age.
Julia Ducournau appears to be very interested in what it takes to grow as a person and learning
how to come to terms with some dark aspects any person may have. That element also comes
into play in a French TV movie she directed and wrote back in 2012 called Manage. It is about a
beautiful woman who has nice life and a successful carrier but 15 years ago she was fat and
bullied which then lead to her being bulimic but now she has grown to cope with her problem.
which is another big element in the ending of Raw where Justine's farther tells her that he hopes
that he will find a solution to her problem, The film appears to have a similar message to Raw in
that it's important to accept the darker aspects of yourself and live with them instead of
pretending that it's not an issue. The darker parts of yourself being related to body
metamoraphis. Even though she is not a fully established well known filmmaker in terms of style
but thematically she is definitely an auteur in her own right in terms of the subjects she has
presented in both 3 films that she has worked on.

14. CONTEXT

15. • During its time in the festival circuit before it found a distributor, Raw caused several attendants at both the
Gothenburg film festival and Toronto International film festival to either faint or throw up to the point of
either taking a break to deal with all the turmoil or having paramedics being pulled in. Despite there being 3
scenes of cannibalism in the entire film this lead to the cinema staff in other screenings from other festivals
handing out vomit bags to people who attended. Julia Ducournau has gone on to say that she did not
expect Raw to get that kind of reaction from audiences and had no intention to shock them in the way
people reacted in the festivals and had no intention to scare people and just wanted to tell a strange,
layered story about growing up. A quote from her reads "It doesn't do justice to my movie in the sense that
some people are going to be scared by it, they have no reason to be scared and I didn't try to make a scary
movie“Raw was shot between late 2015 and early 2016 not too far off to the present day. At this present
day, cannibalism has become a topic that appears to have been absent in popular culture but it is a topic
that people are at least aware of it happening in many instances in the past. Mainly throughout the 20th
century with cases such as the Jeffery Dahmer case in 1991 where a young man named Jeffery Dahmer
killed 17 men and chopped up their flesh and had eaten them. The most recent case was in 2012 involving
a man named Jorge Negromonte Da Silveira who would kidnap homeless women along with his wife
Isabella would cook and eat the bodies and even sell the meat to other people. Cannibalism much like
murder or incest is a topic that people immediately shy away from because its too disgusting for them to
comprehend which is probably why people where fainting and vomiting during the festivals but what Julia
Ducournau has done with Raw is try to give humanity and empathy to these people because at the end of
the day they are not monster's you see in a supernatural horror film but are real people who started out as
normal everyday individuals but their lust for flesh got the better of them. This is the main reason for why I
admire this film because it creates empathy and sympathy for undesirables while also telling a coming of
age story that people can relate without being cannibalistic.
Jeffery Dhamer
Toronto film festival logo
Jorge Negromonte Da
Silvera and his wife.