Alpha is a 13-year-old girl played by Mélissa Boros, and her single mother, played by Golshifteh Farahani, is a doctor in a hospital completely overwhelmed by an unexplainable, contagious bloodborne pandemic that is gradually turning infected people into marble-like stone. Alpha is a bit of a tearaway and her mum is often not around to contain her desire to get out and about, exploring life's less conservative opportunities. After passing out at a party one day, Alpha wakes to find someone has given her a crude capital letter 'A' tattoo on her arm.
The next day, her mum instantly panics, terrified that a contaminated needle has infected Alpha with this marbling virus. She forces Alpha to have a tetanus jab and a blood test just to be sure. Unfortunately, they have to wait two weeks for the results. During this time, word leaks at school about the tattoo and the kids around her start to isolate and bully her, treating her like a walking hazard. Even her love interest, Adrien, turns on her.
Back at home, Alpha's heroin-addicted uncle, Amin, played by Tahar Rahim, suddenly returns after years of being away, high and in jail, and she finds him hiding out in her bedroom. She does not know or remember him, so she thinks there is a stranger in her room while her mum is at work. She pulls a knife on him, threateningly, trying to get him to prove who he is. Mum turns up and smoothes out the misunderstanding, doing her best to shelter her brother after he unexpectedly reappeared.
Over time, Amin and Alpha form a touching, protective bond, but the film jumps about the timeline a bit, visiting scenes from the present and from eight years previous, when Alpha was five. It does get a bit confusing here as to what is in the past and what is the present, who is what age at any given time, and in amongst all that, what state of infection or drug influence Amin is actually under. What we see are scenes from both time periods, with the three characters presented at different ages, dreamily mixed between fantasy and reality.
To be honest, I did find it hard to keep up with the exact meaning and who was where at any given scene. It is certainly one of those films that you need to watch twice once you get your head around the meanings and the characters' actions. But it is safe to say that it is a very moving tale of a family's unresolved trauma, guilt and grief. Can Alpha work out the reality of her situation? Is she sick with the infection? Is Amin sick, beyond being high on drugs? Does he have HIV/AIDS? How is that related to the marbling, if at all? Can they find a path to resolve the past and present between them?
There are further moving scenes throughout the film involving other players, including Alpha's gay English teacher (who is verbally abused by her classmates) whose partner is turning to marble. There are a couple of incredibly moving and emotional scenes between Alpha and Amin where they conclude that words are simply not enough. We also see Maman at work - frantic, exhausted and emotionally invested in her patients' wellbeing, even when she knows there is very little she can do for them beyond general care and pain management.
Then there are the cultural dynamics of their North African immigrant family, being in France. The grandmother attributes the illness to a superstitious, demonic force she calls The Red Wind. This layer highlights a marked generation gap between the traditional, superstitious grandmother and the Western-educated, rational and scientific doctor mum - with Alpha trapped in the middle, trying to find her own way. There are also striking surreal elements throughout the film, like the walls of Alpha's bedroom literally closing in on her, symbolising how choked she feels by her isolation and guilt, it would seem.
The gorgeous, melancholic piano score contrasts beautifully with the tactile horror of human bodies turning to marble, elevating it from a standard body horror film into something altogether poetic. So no - it doesn't deliver the shocking, violent body horror of Raw or Titane, but rather a reflective, heartbreaking family drama that uses body horror as a theme rather than a shock tactic.
The three lead actors are fabulous and worth watching the film for, regardless of the story. Tahar Rahim’s portrayal of addiction in Amin is the most 'shocking' thing about the film, and the emotional performances from the two female leads move this much higher up the watchlist. The raw family emotion makes it through and past the chaos of the tale. Alpha is a tragic, challenging, artistic film full of puzzles and mysteries to unpick (as I said, probably a second time around)! You can catch it now in the UK on a few streaming services and it comes highly recommended.
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