Dir/wri: Marion Le Coroller | Cast: Mara Taquin, Sami Outabali, Sonia Faidi, Karin Viard | France, Fantasy, Body Horror, 103′ 2026
This body horror thriller from Marion Le Coroller, playing in the Midnight Screenings section at Cannes, starts with a jolt of violence that shocks like a slap in the face.
With this hilarious horror opening Sanguine is funny and disturbing from the get-go. And yes, there’s a lesbian twist but not one that is ever fully explored, just serving to make Margot, the lead character brilliantly played by Mara Taquin, even less sure of her ground as a newly qualified doctor.
In a fast food joint a customer’s meltdown escalates into a savage beating by an infected “Employee of the Month.” Now he’s a killer – this is a world where civility is a thin veneer, easily torn away. From there, the film settles into a rhythm that is less chaotic than that opening suggests, unfolding with a controlled, almost clinical precision and a propulsive, pounding score than can be quite alarming at times.
The hospital setting in Northern French riverside city (Nevers or maybe Nantes) becomes the film’s main subject: Its red-and-white interiors, harsh lighting, and fisheye camerawork create a sense of distortion and pressure, mirroring a system stretched beyond its limits.
Margot’s trajectory—from celebratory new doctor to compromised ‘patient’—is the film’s focus, she becomes the metaphor for the typical put-upon, stressed out doctor, working long hours in a hard-edged environment of the casualty department and succumbing to a (possibly), stress-related outbreak of hematidrosis – a haemorrhagic condition, manifesting in blood-soaked mornings where her entire body literally bleeds-out.
The director keeps the horrific condition enigmatic – is it due to DNA anomalies, or possibly indicative of a “new species”.? This feels speculative than satisfying, but that only adds to the disturbing sense of panic and alienation that pervades this persuasive body horror thriller.
Karine Viard’s steely consultant offers a compelling counterpoint, embodying a rigid professionalism that borders on inhuman. Still, the film’s nods toward gender politics—particularly its hints of a 1990s-style struggle for women in male-dominated spaces—feels somewhat dated, as though the film is reaching for resonance without fully interrogating its own assumptions. I felt this pressure when working in oil-trading thirty years ago, nowadays women have considerably more agency.
The visceral elements—flickering lights, thundering score, graphic medical detail—are undeniably effective, if occasionally overbearing. Moments of intimacy, including the overhead sex scenes, provide contrast but also raise questions about whether the film’s provocations serve a deeper purpose or simply aim to menace.
Ultimately, Sanguine is crisply made and often gripping, but its ideas never quite come together – adding, once again to the intended sense of destabilisation. It cuts sharply and incisively, like a surgeon’s scalpel, yet leaves behind an impression that is more abrasive than illuminating.
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL | MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS 2026