Review by Valdonė Rudenkienė
French director Julia Ducournau, known for her innovative and provocative filmmaking, has returned to the Cannes Film Festival with her latest film Alpha. After her 2021 Palme d’Or-winning Titane, Alpha was one of the most anticipated films of the year—but critics have responded with mixed opinions.
Alpha tells the story of a 13-year-old girl named Alpha (played by Mélissa Boros), who lives with her single mother (Golshifteh Farahani) in a world plagued by a strange blood-borne disease that gradually turns infected people into marble statues. After a party where Alpha gets a tattoo, her mother begins to worry that her daughter may have contracted the illness. The film also explores family dynamics, particularly the relationship with Alpha’s uncle Amin (Tahar Rahim), who struggles with heroin addiction.
Alpha aims to explore themes of illness, social exclusion, and family relationships. However, some critics argue that the film’s metaphors—especially those related to the AIDS epidemic and marginalization—are too vague or underdeveloped to have a strong emotional impact.
Alpha is an ambitious but polarizing work that attempts to combine body horror aesthetics with social critique. Still, some critics have noted that the film’s visuals often overpower its narrative. And while this imbalance was a deliberate choice in Titane, it does not work in Alpha’s favor.
The strongest aspect of the film is the performances. Mélissa Boros sensitively conveys the inner turmoil of a teenager, while Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim deliver authentic and emotionally resonant portrayals. Visually, the film remains true to Ducournau’s style—intense, colorful, and often unsettling. However, this same aesthetic sometimes overshadows the story structure. The film does not shy away from metaphors of disease, exclusion, and marginalization, but critics have noted that these themes are not clearly enough developed, making them easy to lose in the chaos of the narrative. In its attempt to push the boundaries of traditional cinema, Alpha risks losing emotional connection with the viewer. It may appeal to those seeking experimental cinema, but could disappoint viewers expecting a more coherent storyline.
Stylistically, Alpha maintains Ducournau’s signature elements—strong visuals, body horror, bold contrasts. But this time, the aesthetics seem to overwhelm the narrative. Where Titane took risks and managed its chaos, Alpha appears to get lost in it. While both films feature strong performances, the characters in Titane, despite their strangeness, were deeply human and memorable. In Alpha, they sometimes lack a clearer emotional anchor.
It can be said that Alpha is an attempt to delve even deeper into the darker aspects of human experience, but this time Ducournau took significant risks with the content. Though her directorial style remains undeniably original, Alpha does not achieve the same impact or provocative clarity that made Titane a cult classic with strong emotional resonance.