Actor Defends Graphic Horror Film That Caused Viewers To Faint

Titane premiered at Cannes Film Festival in July, with the film's writer and director Julia Ducournau scooping the Palme d'Or - the top prize at the festival.

However, the movie's plot and graphic scenes proved too much for many viewers, with some walking out of cinemas, and others not walking out 'cause they'd already fainted.

The synopsis for Titane - which is French for 'titanium' - simply reads: "Titane: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often used in medical prostheses due to its pronounced biocompatibility."

Suffice to say though, this doesn't really give you the complete picture of what you can expect to see.

The movie stars Agathe Rousselle as Alexia, a woman who has a titanium plate fitted into her head after being injured in a car accident as a child.

Alexia goes on to have sex with a vintage Cadillac, and naturally, she becomes pregnant.

'How does one know when a car has got them pregnant?' I hear you ask. Well, they start secreting motor oil from their vagina, and eventually, they give birth to a titanium baby.

Oh, and on top of that, Alexia's also got a nasty murderous streak, meaning as well as the crossover between motoring and eroticism, there's lot of grisly deaths to contend with.

The violence isn't limited to others either, with Alexia breaking her own nose by continually bashing it on a sink in one memorably grim scene.

Anyway, Rousselle has defended the film, arguing the shock it's caused is a reflection of societal sexism.

"If it had been a male director - Tarantino, Cronenberg, anyone - it would've been less surprising. And we're so used to men being violent and making violent movies. It's kind of time for men to know that women can be violent as well."

Upon hearing that people had walked out after the nose-breaking scene, the 33-year-old said: "That's a shame. Because that's the last thing that’s super-hard to watch, and the next hour is pretty OK."

And, while the movie may be painful to watch, Rousselle revealed that it was even more painful to make, as she dislocated a shoulder, injured her hips and actually broke her nose during shooting.

She said: "I basically had a chiropractor on set all the time."

So stop whining about your little faints and spews, OK?