Grave, Julia Ducournau’s debut feature, lands on HBO Max on May 15, 2026. Released in French theaters on March 15, 2017, this Franco-Belgian horror film drew attention at Cannes’ Critics Week before cementing the director’s distinctive trajectory, a few years ahead of Titane.
Grave
Film | 2017
Available on HBO Max on May 15, 2026
Drama, horror | Runtime: 1h38
Directed by Julia Ducournau | Screenplay: Julia Ducournau | Starring Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Naït Oufella
Nationality: France, Belgium
Not suitable for viewers under 16
In Grave, Justine, a brilliant teenage student from a vegetarian veterinary family, begins veterinary school where her older sister is already enrolled. During a hazing rite, she’s forced to eat raw meat for the first time. This transgression triggers a physical and intimate metamorphosis that pushes the narrative toward body horror.
First shown at Critics' Week in 2016, the film earned the FIPRESCI prize and later collected a string of honors, including the Grand Prize at the 2017 Gérardmer Festival and the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best First Film. Its standing was further enhanced by standout festival screenings, particularly in Toronto, where a number of sessions left some audience members feeling unsettled.
The editors' review, published upon the film's release:
Grave isn’t hitting French cinemas yet, but its reputation already precedes it. This film by Julia Ducournau is already sending shivers of horror before anyone has seen it, after two viewers fainted during its Toronto premiere. So the question remains: is the movie really as “grave” as that?
There was once Justine, a gifted young girl who, at first glance, seems as sweet as she is naïve. Her whole family are vegetarians and veterinarians. It only makes sense that she would follow the same path. Just as she is about to enter veterinary school, her life takes a decisive turn: from vegetarian to cannibal.
So, taken at face value and given the buzz surrounding it, you expect a true bloodbath. But the film is less gory than you might fear. It’s nonetheless quite disturbing.
In Grave, suggestion often takes center stage. Symbolic imagery gently prefigures Justine’s downward spiral. A car’s headlights dimming, a teddy lamb hanging... Small clues slip in, like warnings that only we can notice.
The plot is laced with irony. On arriving at veterinary school, Justine is lost, her gaze wild, and we sense her fear as she faces the hazing ritual. The freshmen are treated like cattle, obedient to the older students, simply following the herd. While the young woman tries to stay true to her principles, she’s urged not to rebel and to do as she’s told, even when it means eating meat. And then, suddenly, things spiral out of control. The roles are reversed.
For the role of Justine, Julia Ducournau picked Garance Marillier, the actress she had already trusted with the lead in her short film Junior. The choice is being hailed as a perfect fit, with Marillier delivering Justine with uncanny precision. In the opening scenes, as we watch this innocent young student, it’s hard to picture her becoming someone so chilling. Yet when the lamb turns into a wolf among the flock, her performance unsettles the audience. With her animal gaze, curled lips, and feral stance, there’s no doubt: Justine has become a predator.
Another standout aspect of this film is the score. While at times it creates a striking contrast with a scene, the moment Justine truly tips into darkness—the turning point—lands on a tense, gothically tinged piece. ReImagined by the English composer Jim Williams, this bande originale helps draw us into the work and can even set the emotional tone more poignantly than the imagery itself.
The film blends dark humor and horror. Everyday moments we can relate to are suddenly and brutally upended by an unexpected turn. Beyond cannibalism, Grave tackles several themes—hazing and the humiliation it can breed, homosexuality, and harassment more broadly. Still, the underlying message of the work is hard to pin down. The ending is also predictable, something you feel coming by the midpoint.
Grave remains, all the same, a fairly unique work that, by default, is classified in the horror genre.
Trailer for Grave:
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