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Alpha

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57% Tomatometer 97 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.
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Alpha

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Critics Consensus

Strong performances and a visually striking finale notwithstanding, Alpha ultimately frustrates with its unwieldy structure and imbalanced blend of fantastical and realistic elements.

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Critics Reviews

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Tim Grierson Los Angeles Times 2d
As “Alpha” reaches its stylish, dreamlike ending, she hits upon an absorbing final image that suggests the collective sorrow and emotional devastation our recent plague years have wrought. Go to Full Review
Katie Rife RogerEbert.com 5d
1.5/4
At times, 'Alpha’ plays like a Cronenbergian after-school special, in which the visual metaphors are overplayed, and the drama is broadly sketched to teach a moral lesson. Go to Full Review
Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times 6d
Softer and gentler than either of its forbears, “Alpha” hums with a dreamlike unease, a movie less concerned with sensation than with genuine feeling. Go to Full Review
Anna Hoang Boston Hassle 18h
Wherever place in her heart ALPHA traveled from, it’s enough to know Ducournau’s tenderness can be more compelling than gory infliction. Go to Full Review
Shelagh Rowan-Legg ScreenAnarchy 20h
5/5
Alpha is a body-beauty-horror-coming-of-age-accepting-loss film (seriously, so many ways to look at this film, all of them valid, and all of them blending in a mostly seamless tapestry that shows just how much love is possible in the world. Go to Full Review
Erik Childress Movie Madness Podcast 21h
2/4
Ducournau has crafted a metaphor in search of a film that is often surrounded with repetitive visuals and situations inserted into a timeline designed more for a gotcha than a meaningful commentary or emotional payoff. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Cary 9h So complex and moving! Terrific acting! See more Kyle 17h While not like the previous films of Julia Docournau in terms of its ambiguity, it is no less powerful in terms of emotional weight. Well shot, and interesting twist towards the end makes for a great emotionally heart wrenching film. See more Roy J 1d Can't believe a 2-time Palme d'Or winner made this. Boring, messy, and amateurish. See more Ghederick Eshmont 6d Julia Ducournau is amongst the world’s best filmmakers, though Alpha has some jagged edges & misfires, it’s still quite mesmerizing See more James 6d Interesting Story that goes to Lynch-land See more Griffith J @griffithxjohnson 1d A creative & very unpleasant way to tackle issues like blood borne illness & addiction but never bold nor clever enough to fully click. A strange mix of coming-of-age, family drama, & medical horror that never truly shines in one area. Some really incredible prosthetics & makeup give a unique look to a well known subject. It makes me feel dirty, on edge, & wrong but not for all the right reasons. Overly confusing as it mixes reality & delusion in ways that just don’t justify the strangeness of itself. See more Read all reviews
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Alpha

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Movie Info

Synopsis Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old lives with her single mom. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.
Director
Julia Ducournau
Producer
Éric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
Screenwriter
Julia Ducournau
Distributor
NEON
Production Co
Mandarin et Compagnie, Kallouche Cinéma, Frakas Productions
Rating
R (Language|Drug Content|Sexual Material|Some Underage Drinking)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 27, 2026, Limited
Runtime
2h 2m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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