ALPHA © MANDARIN & COMPAGNIE KALLOUCHE CINEMA FRAKAS PRODUCTIONS FRANCE 3 CINEMA
Alpha: Julia Ducournau, at the heart of the spread of fear
After her Palme d’or in 2021 for Titane, Julia Ducournau returns to Competition with Alpha, a more intimate film, but not abandoning her obsessions as a filmmaker.
Alpha is 13 years old. She lives alone with her mother and is going through the turmoil of adolescence. When she returns home from a party with a tattoo, something seemingly innocuous sends shock waves through her household. The film is set between the 1980s and 1990s. Julia Ducournau introduces a fictional epidemic that is clearly reminiscent of AIDS, which is in turn evocative of Mauvais Sang (Bad Blood) by Leos Carax.
The director, herself a child when HIV first appeared, recalls “a contagious fear, a sense of shame among a whole section of the population, and the way society refused to deal with the problem head-on and admit that we were all affected.” And in an interview with Vanity Fair, she added: “It is a commentary on the way this fear spread, and the impact it has had on my generation.”
Alpha may have strayed from the graphic body horror that was the hallmark of Titane and Grave (Raw), but Julia Ducournau continues to explore bodily changes, particularly those occurring during adolescence. Mélissa Boros plays Alpha, following in the footsteps of Garance Marillier (Grave (Raw)) and Agathe Rousselle (Titane): a body undergoing transformation, at the center of chaos.
Playing opposite the single mother, who is played by Golshifteh Farahani, is another key character, Amin, Alpha’s uncle, who has been infected with the virus. Julia Ducournau has cast Tahar Rahim in this role, requiring him to undergo a radical physical transformation — the polar opposite of the muscle-bound Vincent Lindon in Titane. The actor, who lost almost 20 kilos, caused quite a stir when promoting the biopic Monsieur Aznavour, offering a glimpse of the shadow cast by Alpha.