Alpha (2025) review

Teenager Alpha (Mélissa Boros) passes out at a party and someone gives her a crude "tattoo" of the letter "A" on her left arm (a clear reference to a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne), which scares her mother (Golshifteh Farahani), a doctor, as well as her classmates and boyfriend Adrien (Louai El Amrousy) who all think she has a "virus" and are terrified of getting sick themselves.  As an attempted allegory for the AIDS epidemic, it clearly has empathy for those suffering with the illness although the final product is a letdown, as it inexplicably shifts its attention away from Alpha and onto her uncle Amin (Tahar Rahim), a heroin addict, who's a considerably less compelling individual.  It seems like Ducournau had an interesting idea going in and then, for whatever reason, gave up on her initial intent, leaving too many loose ends for her main character.  The special effects team did an admirable job showing the infected slowly petrifying, with their flesh transforming into marble (they also cough up dust), but their talents are slightly wasted here.