Spielplan
ALPHA
Cinematic trailblazer and Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau’s latest film is no less ambitious than her previous work, except here, she uses elements of body horror to tell a story of a different kind of horror to befall a family with a traumatic past. Alpha, a rebellious 13-year-old, lives with her single mom, a doctor with an at-home practice amid the context of a strange new bloodborne disease. When Alpha returns from a house party, drunk, her mother discovers a new, amateur tattoo on her daughter’s arm. Worried she might have been infected by the same disease, their world is suddenly turned upside down, as fear invades their family unit, triggering a chain reaction which unleashes repressed trauma, memory and dread.
Ducournau’s daring and distinct approach offers a quiet revolution in genre filmmaking, employing techniques borrowed from horror and body horror that lead us through a family’s story of fear and pain, ultimately chronicling their journey towards love, compassion and acceptance.
France 2025 by Julie Ducournau, 128 min., french original version with engl. subtitles, FSK 12
Cast: Mélissa Boros, Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani
