Curzon Film has today released the official trailer for Alpha, the new feature from Palme d’Or-winning director Julia Ducournau. Marking her first film since 2021’s Titane, Alpha is positioned as a meditative yet unsettling drama that deepens Ducournau’s ongoing preoccupation with the fragility of the human body, the instability of memory, and the complexities of familial relationships.
The film stars Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian, “The Serpent”), Golshifteh Farahani (The Patience Stone, Extraction), Mélissa Boros, and Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”, Emily). It made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival earlier this year and is scheduled for a nationwide cinema release on 14 November 2025.
Alpha follows the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose world is upended amidst the spread of a mysterious virus. While the narrative centres on a family in crisis, Ducournau once again brings her distinctive cinematic language to bear – blending horror with personal drama, and making use of a non-linear structure that weaves together past and present.
Building on the formal and thematic groundwork laid in her earlier works Raw and Titane, Ducournau’s third feature suggests a continued shift away from conventional genre boundaries. The film is said to examine the visceral effects of illness, addiction, and trauma, whilst at the same time examining the psychological undercurrents of grief and memory.
Timelines shift without warning, a stylistic decision that mirrors the emotional disorientation often experienced in the wake of loss or upheaval. The film’s approach is both bold and intimate, inviting viewers into a world where the biological and the emotional intersect in unsettling and often poignant ways.
Curzon describes Alpha as “a quiet revolution in genre filmmaking” and “a visually arresting and psychologically rich” work that builds on Ducournau’s reputation for challenging and distinctive cinema.
Alpha releases in cinemas across the UK on 14 November.
