“Alpha”, interview with actor Tahar Rahim

May 24, 2025 4

Tahar Rahim: “This part was a gift for me and to play it, I knew I needed to experience that void the people that are struggling with addiction feel”

“Alpha”, interview with actor Tahar Rahim Chiara Nicoletti

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After winning the Palme d’Or in 2021, Julia Ducournau is back competing at the 78th Cannes Film Festival with her new film “Alpha“.

The film is a a coming-of-age exploring themes the French director has already explored in her previous works, like Raw and Titane: Transformation, parent-sons relationships

Besides young Mélissa Boros playing the lead as Alpha, at the centre of the story there are Alpha’s mother, on screen by Goldshifteh Farahani and her brother, Alpha’s uncle, Amin, astonishingly played by Tahar Rahim.

The actor lost almost 20 kg to play the part as he had to embody a person struggling with addiction. He tells us: “This part was a gift for me and I knew that it was inherent to the project to physically match the part. I had to be thin and at a certain point I was thin enough to make it believable but I decided I needed to go further because I needed to experience that void the people that are struggling with addiction are trying to fill up with the product”.

Plot

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.

Written by: Chiara Nicoletti

Guest

Tahar Rahim

Film

Alpha

Festival

Festival de Cannes

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