Alpha is a 2025 body horror drama film written and directed by Julia Ducournau. The film stars Tahar Rahim, Golshifteh Farahani, Mélissa Boros, Emma Mackey, Finnegan Oldfield, and Louai El Amrousy. It follows a teen girl who, after returning from school with a tattoo, is feared to have contracted a new lethal bloodborne disease.
The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May, and will be theatrically released in France by Diaphana Distribution on 20 August 2025.
Synopsis.
Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mother, amid the context of a strange new bloodborne disease which slowly turns its sufferers to marble. Their world collapses the day Alpha returns from school with a tattoo on her arm, leading her mother to fear that she has contracted the disease herself.
Production.
The film has been described by distributors FilmNation Entertainment and Charades as writer/director Julia Ducournau's "most personal, profound work". 
Principal photography took place in Le Havre in September and October 2024. From 23–24 October onwards, a public swimming pool in Pont-Audemer was used as a filming location, chosen for its 1980s appearance. 35 days were spent filming in Normandy, followed by continued filming in Paris into November. "Alpha" stars Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim. Rahim lost 20 kilograms for his role.
The fictitious disease featured in the film has been analyzed by most critics as an allegory for HIV/AIDS, with the plot reflecting the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.
Release.
Neon bought North American distribution rights at the Marché du Film of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, after previously distributing Ducournau's previous film "Titane" (2021). The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2025. The film will be distributed by Mubi in Latin America and India, and Curzon Film in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Reception.
David Ehrlich of "Indiewire" called the film "dismal" and Ducournau's "first unambiguous misfire," and Peter Bradshaw of "the Guardian" wrote in a one-star review that "the madly, bafflingly overwrought and humourless storytelling can’t overcome the fact that everything [in the film] is frankly unpersuasive and tedious." However, in a more positive review, Radhika Seth of "Vogue" stated that the film "feels destined to become a cult classic," and praised the performances of Boros, Farahani, and Rahim.