The Alps is a secret society including a nurse, a gym coach, a gymnast and a paramedic. They offer a unique service: the recently bereaved can hire them to act as surrogates for the deceased loved ones—wearing their clothes, adopting their mannerisms, etc.—in order to help them adjust to their loss.

Yorgos Lanthimos followed the Oscar®-nominated success of Dogtooth with this disquieting wonder centered on a group offering counseling services to the recently bereaved. Doubling down on the earlier film’s ritualistic interrogations of role-play, Alps is a mordantly funny, absurdist provocation.