We’re in the midst of the AIDS epidemic in France, so “Alpha” must take place in the mid-nineties. Amin (Tahar Rahim) is an IV drug user who shot himself up with a dirty needle and caught the virus. His sister, known as Maman (played by Golshifteh Farahani), is a doctor, and she’s exasperated by her brother’s falling in and out of drug use. She’s offered him to stay at her place in an attempt to help him recover. Alpha is her daughter, a normal high-school kid but she’s no pushover.  And even though her classmates can be cruel, she can stand up for herself. At a party, she gets a tattoo, and her mother brutally confronts her about it the next day, knowing how easily AIDS can spread. The ties between mother-daughter, and mother-brother, are incredibly strong, I’ve rarely seen such a strong depiction of unconditionnal love on screen. It’s the core, around which the epidemic and its corollaries of grief, incomprehension and violence will gravitate.

“ALPHA” is not a conventional film by any means, but then you knew this already, it’s a Julia Ducourneau film. “ALPHA” happens over two different time periods, you get the feeling of déjà vu, the often-overbearing music nonetheless brings the image to boiling point for supercharged pathos, and you’re constantly hanging on to dear life, trying to comprehend the images on the screen, letting yourself be absorbed in the narrative flow, being left bemused and mesmerized. A point of interest is the representation of AIDS. Once people become infected with the virus (and a number of scenes are in the waiting room and hospital where Maman works as a doctor), their bodies gradually turn to marble. First, a marmoreal wisp appears across a chin, then a leg becomes stone, and eventually the entire body becomes a statue. It’s uncanny. When the patients cough, they expel a red powder from their mouths. “ALPHA” was beautiful chaos, and as people turned to stone and Amin was on his umpteenth overdose and Alpha got into arguments in school, what struck me was the triangle of care that developed between them and Maman. Their family unit (Amin was rescued from the street by his sister) was tight, a protection against a world collapsing.

Julia Ducourneau is France’s enfant terrible, definitively now. She populates her films (“Raw,” “Titane,” and now “Alpha”) with characters that appear unhinged but are just lusting for life, Or they’re just badly behaved. Either way, it’s hard to box them in. Her name is becoming synonymous with “extraordinary” and “risk-taker.” Wonderful filmmaker!

Tahar Rahim (“A PROPHET”) as a taut and muscular junkie was barely recognizable, he clearly did his homework, his thorough understanding over who is character is and what that character is supposed to do should not go unnoticed.  There are still a few screenings left before the end of the festival but I wouldn’t be surprised if he won the acting prize this year at Cannes.

“ALPHA” is a definite recommend, a must-see film by Julia Ducourneau, France’s most audacious and electrifying filmmaker!

Julia Ducourneau (second from right) with the cast of her film “ALPHA”