Director Challenges AIDS Interpretation in New Body Horror Film
Acclaimed French filmmaker Julia Ducournau has firmly rejected interpretations that her latest movie Alpha serves as an allegory for the AIDS crisis, despite the film's themes of bloodborne disease and social stigma. The director behind the award-winning films Raw and Titane returns with what marks a departure into broader emotional territory with her new project.
A Different Kind of Pandemic Story
Set in an alternate 1980s/90s timeline, Alpha follows rebellious 13-year-old protagonist Alpha, played by newcomer Mélissa Boros, who becomes infected with a terrifying bloodborne disease after being tattooed with a shared needle at a party. The illness slowly and painfully transforms humans into marble, creating parallels that many viewers have connected to the AIDS epidemic.
Ducournau strongly refutes this reading, explaining: "I think that's missing the point, in the sense that if I had to make a movie about AIDS, naming it and showing the symptoms and really treating this disease as the centre point of the film, I would have done a completely different film – probably a way more historically accurate film as well."
The director instead positions fear as the central disease she wants to explore, stating: "The disease I want to talk about within the film is fear and how it's transmitted to further generations once a trauma hasn't been resolved."
Rahim's Transformative Performance
The film features Tahar Rahim as Amin, the infected heroin addict brother of Alpha's mother, played by Golshifteh Farahani. Rahim underwent a dramatic physical transformation for the role, losing over 40 pounds under medical supervision. The Bafta-nominated actor, known for his performances in A Prophet and The Mauritanian, described the process as becoming "more of a character matter, almost a spiritual matter."
Rahim revealed the psychological toll of his transformation: "That's when it's dangerous, because you're just at the edge of something. There's a cliff and all you want to do is just jump – and that's where I realised that I was spot-on because that's what's happening with addicts, they play with death and life."
Ducournau recalled witnessing Rahim's struggle with body dysmorphia during filming, noting he constantly questioned whether his weight loss was visible enough. The actor confirmed this altered self-perception, admitting "I couldn't see it. It changed my perception – and there's a word for that."
Finding the Right Alpha
The search for the film's young lead involved an unusual casting process. Despite Alpha being 13 in the story, Ducournau insisted on casting an adult actress due to the mature themes involving pandemic disease transmission through sex and IV usage. The director organised a casting call for women 18 and older who looked significantly younger, focusing on ballerinas, swimmers, athletes and petite women.
This led to the discovery of Mélissa Boros, who was 19 during filming but convincingly portrays a much younger character. Ducournau praised Boros's "extremely quirky and awkward and adorable" relationship with her body, which perfectly captured teenage physical awkwardness.
Rejecting the Body Horror Label
Despite her films frequently being categorised as body horror, Ducournau rejects this description. "I embrace no labels whatsoever, whatever they are," she stated, preferring to think of her work as "dramatic, personal stories, seen from within."
The director argued that "'body horror' sounds also kind of misleading, in ways that nowadays it's always associated with a gorefest. And I really believe that actually the study of the body is something that is so much more existentialist and philosophical than this." Instead, she embraces terms like "hybrid" and "mutant" to describe her genre-blending approach.
Embracing Polarising Reactions
Alpha premiered to mixed reactions at Cannes earlier this year, following Ducournau's Palme d'Or win for Titane in 2021. The film received both harsh criticism and praise, with some walkouts during screenings. The director remains unfazed by the divided response.
"The way I express myself is polarising, the way the hybrids that come out of me that are my films are polarising – and thank God!" she declared. "I'm here to shake up the dialogue, to shake up the thoughts. I'm here to raise questions, I'm not here to give answers."
Ducournau pointed out that Titane also polarised audiences initially, though this was forgotten after it won the prestigious award. She values art that requires repeated engagement, noting that the works she's loved most are "the ones that I did not right away have a clear view of."
The film, which also stars British-French actors Emma Mackey and Finnegan Oldfield, screened at the London Film Festival ahead of its UK cinema release on Friday, November 14.
