‘Alpha’ Review: Love Is Trauma In Julia Ducournau’s Viscerally Affecting, Heartbreaking Palme D’Or Contender [Cannes]

Much of the torment of being a teenager is to do with seeing adults worry about their loved ones. Perhaps this is the fundamental way in which trauma is passed down the generations: seeing fear in the eyes of a parent instills fear in you. “Alpha,” the third feature from French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, only makes this connection between mother and child explicit in its final, gut-wrenching moments, with a stunning moment of narrative sleight of hand that lets all of the film’s moving pieces suddenly fall into place.

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