Alpha review – Julia Ducournau's disjointed body horror is an absolute gamma
Strident, oppressive, incoherent and weirdly pointless from first to last … Julia Ducournau's new film Alpha has to be the most bewildering disappointment of this year's Cannes competition; even an honest lead performance from Mélissa Boros can't retrieve it.
I admit I was agnostic about her much-acclaimed Palme d'Or winner Titane from 2021 but that had an energised purpose lacking in Alpha and Ducournau's excellent 2016 debut Raw is still easily her best work.
Body-horror – the keynote of Ducournau's films – is still arguably the genre here, or maybe body-horror-coming-of age. We are in a kind of alternative present or recent past; some of the film appears to take place before France adopted the euro in 2002, or perhaps in this imagined world, the euro didn't happen.
Thirteen-year-old Alpha (Boros), from a Moroccan-French family, royally freaks out her mother (Golshifteh Farahani) one evening by coming back from a party with the letter A tattooed on her arm. (This incidentally indicates a kind of badass rebellious attitude that she never really displays again.) With a dirty needle? A shared needle?
Her mother, a doctor, is beside herself because her hospital is now overwhelmed with infection cases of a bizarre new disease, which turns the sufferer into a marble-white statue. However, despite the near-riot developing outside the hospital, Ducournau doesn't show any restrictive hygiene practices and appears to suggest that society ultimately pretty much copes with the white-marble disease, with unstressed doctors and nurses in the same hospital smilingly dealing with a row of patients.
This fictional situation could therefore be said to gesture at Aids or Covid, although it is not particularly compelling or scary either on its own literal terms or as metaphor. It could relate to respectable society's horror of drug addicts – who include Alpha's emaciated smackhead brother Amin (Tahar Ramin) whom Alpha's mom once very rashly allowed to babysit the five-year-old Alpha in some scuzzy rented room while patently out of it – he is evidently intended to be some sort of magically sacrificial figure.
As for Alpha, her tattoo, and her leaking bandage, earn her some bullying ostracism from the class, who are themselves angrily preoccupied with the disease, and the various infections of misogyny and homophobia are arguably also being satirised.
But the madly, bafflingly overwrought and humourless storytelling can't overcome the fact that everything here is frankly unpersuasive and tedious. Every line, every scene, has the emoting dial turned up to 11 and yet feels redundant. Ducournau surely has to find her way back to the cool precision and certainty of Raw.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
AP PHOTOS: Highlights so far from the French Open tennis tournament
This gallery, curated by AP photo editors, showcases highlights of the French Open tennis tournament through the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
The best luxury resortwear for women
It seems 2025 is the year of the resortwear renaissance. Perhaps it's down to the HBO hit The White Lotus or simply a desire for some escapism, but holiday clothes feel far more luxe and grown-up than ever right now. Instead of being overtly beachy with loud botanical prints and gaudy Hawaiian shirts, this new age of resortwear is relaxed, refined, and far easier to incorporate into summery situations — from fancy beach clubs to private airport lounges. From Missoni's stylish stripes to Camilla's bejewelled beach cover-ups and Loewe's playful accessories, here are the luxury labels providing the ritziest resortwear for women this summer. • This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue With its nuanced colour palette and simple silhouettes, the contemporary resortwear brand Eleventy was made for those who probably vowed they would never wear traditional beachwear. In the place of the usual tropical prints and brash colours, there are breezy open-knit sweaters to throw over bikinis, matching linen sets for beach-club lunches and a collection of tailored dresses to complete your holiday wardrobe. While elegance is usually associated with classic staples and refined womenswear, when Emilio Pucci founded his namesake brand in 1947 he was on a mission to bring a new meaning to the word — to prove that elegance could be fast, joyful, spontaneous and effortless. His unique sense of colour, geometric prints and comfortable silk-jersey designs were made for those with a jet-set lifestyle and worn by the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy. Founded by Lesleigh Jermanus, a former designer for Zimmermann, the Australian brand Alémais has grown a reputation since 2020 for its vibrant and original prints that are often created in collaboration with independent artists. You'll find whimsical prints and ruffled silhouettes among its collection of romantic shirtdresses and matching twin sets, as well as hero slip styles that'll see you through every summery scenario. For the past seven years Loewe has partnered with the legendary Ibiza boutique Paula's to create a resortwear collection full of memorable, playful accessories as well as staple holiday pieces. Inspired by bestselling silhouettes from the luxury Spanish house, an archive full of exuberant prints and the sunny island in the 1970s, there are raffia bags, modern takes on traditional espadrilles and effortlessly cool bohemian skirts on offer. In 1953, the now-iconic Italian label Missoni started out producing knitted tracksuits and pioneered the use of the Raschel knitting machine and new ways of incorporating both colour and texture in performance wear. Seventy years later and its iconic zigzag pattern designs, innovative knitted sets and unique colour combinations are much more likely to be spotted in holiday destinations than on the track. They have extended to cover crochet swimwear, floor-sweeping kaftans and throw-on-and-go rompers. This year the Australian luxury brand Camilla partnered with the Sydney-based artist Lezio Lopes — who was behind the opening credit sequence for the first and second seasons of The White Lotus — to create a collection of lavish resortwear inspired by the three worlds of the award-winning series. Tropical blossoms, opulent architecture and animal life of Hawaii, Italy and Thailand were hidden within each limited edition print in ode to the complex, intriguing and enigmatic residents of the White Lotus. Aside from this partnership, all Camilla's collections feature hand-drawn prints, painted by in-house artists. Pieces are cut, sewn and embellished by hand too. The Brazilian fashion brand PatBo started as a label exclusively offering couture evening wear to the Sao Paulo elite, creating one-of-a-kind gowns for clients and sewing everything by hand. In 2002, the founder Patricia Bonaldi brought her passion for bold, feminine designs and intricate hand embroidery to the swimwear scene with high-waisted bikinis and Eighties-inspired high-leg on pieces. Since then she has branched out to an accompanying resortwear line — from feminine ruffled blouses to skimpy cut-out dresses. What started as a swimwear line has evolved into a full lifestyle brand, and now the Colombian fashion designer Johanna Ortiz offers ready-to-wear, swim, accessories and even a home collection. Inspired by nature, pieces use tropical prints in inoffensive, calming colour palettes such as beige and burgundy or khaki and cream. Loyal customers include Princess Caroline of Monaco, Beyoncé, Michelle Obama and Amal Clooney.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
You too can dress like Paul Mescal — the best short shorts for summer
The question in fashion circles is not so much whether it will be a short summer, but will it be a shorts summer? This time last year it was most definitely the latter, largely thanks to Paul Mescal, who before he graced our screens in a leather skirt in Gladiator II, set tongues wagging after showing up at a Gucci men's fashion show in the briefest of shorts — cotton with stripes — teamed with socks, loafers and told GQ at the time: 'I'm a big advocate for men wearing shorter shorts.' And indeed the Irish actor has made the micro short something of a wardrobe signature for a few years now. But though he told a five-year-old caller on a Radio 1 phone-in, in response to their question of why his shorts are so short, 'They're sports shorts … they're just very practical for exercise, and they're great for running in,' let's face it — the Gucci skimpies were not about being workout ready. This was a fashion statement and heralded a shift of focus from that traditional male area of musculature, the six-pack. • This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue That being said, Mescal was not wrong in his designating this sort of micro short the friend of track and field. Look at the glamorous tennis stars of old — Borg and McEnro era — and you'll see the style in its heyday. It's just when you bring it into an everyday context, it becomes something quite different. The funny thing is that in the rise of the men's short short — literally — we have the male equivalent of that hoary old fashion barometer, the female hemline. Forever a source of cultural comment, the movement of skirt and dress lengths is seen as an indication not only of aesthetic pendulum swings, but also of changing attitudes to permissiveness. Early 20th-century styles with a hangover from Victorian decorum saw modest, long hemlines, while the roaring, decadent 1920s championed shorter flapper models. Later, the 1940s dipped to knee length or below, and then there was a longer drop to mid-calf, as advocated by Dior's New Look, in the 1950s mid-length trend. This would be torpedoed by the anything-goes miniskirted 1960s. So what does today's Mescal micro short signify? Are we seeing a type of sexual revolution where men are saying proudly, to paraphrase ZZ Top, 'We got legs, we know how to use them'? Possibly. It's certainly a trend that's still here for spring/summer 2025 — you can expect it to be on display not just in a park or on a beach near you soon, but also on the high street, at the coffee shop and — whisper it — in the flexible work sphere. And designers are ready to fulfil demand: scantily cut shorts are on offer in the collections of Gucci (striped cotton shorts with embroidery), Tom Ford (shiny rayon satin shorts with piping), Celine Homme (grey School Boy shorts in wool), Orlebar Brown (the tailored fit Norwich style in linen or seersucker), Polo Ralph Lauren (the 15cm Polo Prepster linen short in multiple colours) and so it goes on. One advocate of short shorts is the actor Luke Evans, whose own fashion collection of casual wear, all T-shirts and sweatshirts and joggers, features some very high-cut shorts. Given that the name of his brand, BDXY, comes from the words 'Bold' and 'Sexy' we should not be surprised. The Cameo shorts (Evans has named all his items after roles on a film set) with their sculpted leg design, contrast stripes and colours (burgundy, army green, white and black) unashamedly nod to the sportswear of the Eighties. And the Welsh movie star reveals that short shorts have a classy provenance. 'The inspiration came directly from JFK Jr, who was the epitome of style and youthful sex appeal,' Evans says. 'He wore the short short perfectly and we wanted to bring the style back and honour what was such a masculine, bold and attractive fashion choice for a man at the beach, by the pool, on the tennis court, on the boat or at the gym.' Channelling the American socialite son of John and Jackie Kennedy, Evans regularly wears the Cameo style himself. 'For me it's about comfort and freedom. And it allows for a much better tan on the whole leg,' he says. 'Also it forces me to never miss leg day at the gym!' It's worth pointing out here that Luke Evans, like Paul Mescal, is a Hollywood actor. Though now in his forties, he has the buff body of a man half his age. For those of us less blessed, it might be worth pointing out that BDXY is adding a new style: 'We are launching a mid-length short soon that isn't a short short, so we can appeal to the less brave,' he reveals. 'But our short shorts have been extremely popular.' So is it brave or foolish for a man of a certain age — movie stars in peak condition excepted — to try this style? To find out I conducted some targeted research. Very targeted. I asked Rowan, my son's 24-year-old girlfriend, what she thought of the trend. 'I love it,' she said enthusiastically. Why? 'Because it makes men get their legs out.' And is there an age at which we should consider something less high-rise, I inquired. 'Oh yes,' she replied. 'About 29.' Guess how old Mr Mescal is.
