Julia Ducournau’s New Thriller Received an 11.5-Minute Standing Ovation at Its Cannes Premiere
A teaser trailer for the film was also released.
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Julia Ducournau is the French writer and director who created the horror movies Raw (2016) and Titane (2021). Her next movie is Alpha, an “infection thriller” about a mother and daughter that is set to be released in fall 2025. Alpha premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday where it received an 11.5-minute standing ovation.
Standing ovations are a tradition at Cannes, with some being more enthusiastic than others. The longest standing ovation in Cannes history was a 22-minute ovation for Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006. Last year, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance received an 11-minute standing ovation and went on to nab five Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Makeup and Hairstyling award.
Other horror movies that have premiered at Cannes include Train to Busan (10-minute standing ovation), It Follows (14 minutes) and Crimes of the Future (6 minutes). However, a long standing ovation doesn’t always mean the movie will be great. Last year Emilia Pérez received a 11-minute standing ovation and ended up being one of the most hated movies of the year. In any case, it’s fun to speculate about how good Alpha will be and get excited for what is potentially a new great horror movie from a director who has a track record of success.
The official synopsis for Alpha reads: “Alpha, 13, is a troubled teenager who lives alone with her mother. Their world comes crashing down the day she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm.” Variety added some additional context, saying “The film seems to be intended as an AIDS allegory, depicting a virus spread by sharing needles and bodily fluids. Though a body horror touch is added with the skin of those infected turning to marble, the film is mainly a surreal drama. As the girl’s mother begins to fear her daughter is infected, memories of her late brother, an addict who died of the disease, make her increasingly paranoid.”
A teaser trailer was released on Monday:
Previously, Ducournau became the first director to win the festival’s highest prize, the Palme d’Or, for Titane in 2021. This made her just the second woman in Cannes history to win the prize after Jane Campion, for The Piano in 1993. After Raw and Titane, Alpha will be Ducournau’s third feature film.
Further reading:
- After ‘Raw’ and ‘Titane’, Julia Ducournau’s Next Movie Hits Theaters in Fall 2025
- 100+ Horror Movies Directed by Women
