Raw (2017) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Justine's transformation begins during the veterinary school hazing when she's forced to eat raw rabbit kidneys under pressure from her sister Alexia. This breaks her vegetarian resolve and awakens a dormant craving for flesh. The biological trigger appears to be genetic, she comes from a family of cannibals, as revealed by the blood-soaked class photos showing her parents and the scars her father later reveals.

Foreshadowing: The blood-soaked class photos Alexia shows Justine at the party hint at the family's dark legacy long before the cravings manifest.

• justine vegetarian transformation
• raw meat craving
• family genetics

Alexia forces Justine to eat the rabbit kidneys as part of a deliberate plan to awaken Justine's repressed cannibalistic nature. Having already gone through the same transformation herself, Alexia sees it as an inevitable family tradition she must introduce her sister to. The pressure reflects Alexia's belief that this is not a choice but an inheritance they must accept.

Foreshadowing: This coercion establishes the pattern of Alexia manipulating Justine throughout the film, setting up later scenes where she pushes her toward more extreme acts.

• alexia forcing food
• rabbit kidneys
• sister pressure

The film leaves Adrien's death ambiguous, Justine wakes up covered in blood with Adrien dead and Alexia also present and bloody. While Alexia is arrested for the murder, it's unclear whether Justine, Alexia, or both together killed him. Justine had attempted to bite Adrien during sex earlier, and both sisters were present at the scene. The ambiguity suggests neither sister can claim innocence, reflecting how far they've both descended.

Foreshadowing: Justine's earlier attempt to bite Adrien during intimacy foreshadows the danger he was in from both sisters.

• adrien death
• who killed adrien
• justine adrien

During sex with Adrien, Justine attempts to bite him but controls herself and instead bites her own arm until it bleeds profusely. This moment represents her losing control of her cravings even in intimate moments. The self-harm brings her a disturbing sense of release, showing that her cannibalistic urges have become intertwined with her sexuality and identity, she cannot separate the desire to consume from her need for connection.

Foreshadowing: This moment directly foreshadows Adrien's death and Justine's inability to resist her impulses around those she cares about.

• justine self-harm
• biting during sex
• cannibal urges

The father's scars reveal that he too went through the same transformation as his daughters. When Justine's mother rejected him initially, he understood why when they kissed, he discovered she was also a cannibal through the intensity of their first kiss. The scars on his chest and lip prove the family carries this condition across generations. His story offers Justine not redemption but acceptance: she will find her own way to live with what she is, just as he has.

Foreshadowing: The blood-soaked class photo showing their parents foreshadows this inheritance.

• father scars
• family inheritance
• genetic cannibalism

Alexia deliberately causes a car accident on a deserted road and then begins eating one of the victims to force Justine to confront and accept her own nature. Alexia believes this brutal lesson will help Justine understand that their family's cannibalism is not something to be ashamed of but embraced. It's her twisted way of showing sisterly love, sharing what she sees as their birthright.

Foreshadowing: The blood photos earlier establish this as a family pattern, not an isolated act of cruelty.

• alexia eating victim
• car crash
• forced lesson

During a hazing ritual that forces Justine to kiss a boy, she bites through the center of his lower lip, shocking everyone in attendance. This marks her first public act of violence against another person, driven by her overwhelming craving for human flesh. The incident signals that she can no longer suppress her urges even in social situations, and she later eats the lip piece in her dorm, confirming the act was driven by hunger rather than aggression.

Foreshadowing: This is the first visible manifestation of her uncontrollable cravings in a public setting.

• lip biting party
• justine bites boy
• hazing ritual

After Justine becomes severely intoxicated at a party, Alexia takes her to the school morgue as part of escalating the psychological torment. The next day, a video surfaces showing a highly intoxicated Justine crawling on all fours, attempting to bite the arm of a corpse while Alexia encourages her. This traumatic video becomes viral evidence of Justine's transformation and is used to publicly shame and expose her.

Foreshadowing: The morgue visit sets up the video that triggers the final confrontation between the sisters.

• morgue scene
• corpse video
• alexia manipulation

Justine's craving for human flesh appears to be genetically inherited and activated by the stress of veterinary school, particularly the traumatic hazing rituals. The raw rabbit kidneys she was forced to eat seem to be the trigger that awakens her dormant condition. Once she tastes blood for the first time from Alexia's severed finger, the craving escalates from animal meat to human flesh, suggesting her transformation is biological and hereditary rather than a choice.

Foreshadowing: The genetic nature is revealed through the father's scars and the blood photos showing their parents.

• cravings cause
• genetic condition
• awakening

After the video of Justine at the morgue surfaces, the sisters confront each other and engage in a savage fight, biting each other until bystanders pull them apart. This fight represents the culmination of their twisted relationship, Alexia has been pushing Justine toward this transformation, but when it finally happens, neither can control it. The violence between them mirrors their shared nature and the impossibility of their dynamic: Alexia wanted a partner in crime, but they've become competitors in their darkness.

Foreshadowing: The coercive dynamic established from the rabbit kidneys scene builds to this confrontation.

• sisters fight
• alexia justine confrontation
• sibling violence

Alexia is arrested for Adrien's murder despite Justine's presence at the scene because the evidence points to Alexia, she has a history of violence and was the one who orchestrated Justine's transformation. Additionally, Justine is sent home while Alexia faces criminal charges, possibly because Justine appears more traumatized and less culpable in the aftermath. However, the film suggests both sisters share responsibility for Adrien's death, making Alexia's arrest somewhat arbitrary.

Foreshadowing: Alexia's history of pushing Justine toward violence makes her the obvious suspect.

• alexia arrested
• justine not arrested
• adrien murder

Justine was a lifelong vegetarian before attending veterinary school, likely as a conscious moral choice that contrasted sharply with her family's darker nature. Her vegetarianism represents her attempt to live by different values than her family, perhaps rejecting the legacy her parents embodied. When she finally breaks this principle under Alexia's pressure, it marks the beginning of her true self emerging, suggesting her vegetarianism was always a facade hiding her actual nature.

Foreshadowing: The contrast between her vegetarian values and the family's secrets sets up her transformation arc.

• justine vegetarian
• vegetarian values
• moral choice