The Ice Tower ★★★★

Released: 21st November 2025

Director: Lucile Hadžihalilović

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl, Gaspar Noé

In The Ice Tower, Lucile Hadžihalilović (Earwig) blurs the line between reality and dreams with such abandon and flexibility that, in theory, such a line barely exists. The liminal space between the two worlds becomes not just an extra setting of the film, but the central place where Hadžihalilović operates. The Ice Tower is bookended by swirling, kaleidoscopic visuals, presented to us like a fairy tale; indeed, the fictional film being shot within the story is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen”. What sits in the middle of these parts is difficult to describe, but undoubtedly fascinating and, most importantly, thematically potent.

Cristina (a spellbinding and unnerving Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose) is the actor playing the titular character of Andersen’s fairy tale, but the film’s central focus, at least for the first part, is on Jeanne (a magnificent Clara Pacini in her feature film debut). An orphan who runs away from her foster home, Jeanne seeks shelter in the studio where the adaptation is being shot. She first sees Cristina through a crack in the set. The Snow Queen stands in darkness shrouded only by swirling snow; she is both beautiful and chilling, and Jeanne is mesmerised.

From here, The Ice Tower morphs into an endlessly surprising journey of fleeting human connections, abuse of power, and aching loneliness. It’s a stark and brutal film, oppressive and cruel when it needs to be, occasionally playing like a dream-inflected Dardennes brothers story. But amidst the harsh realities, there is Hadžihalilović’s magical handling of images, aided by glorious cinematography from Jonathan Ricquebourg (The Taste of Things). Even before Jeanne and Cristina meet, Hadžihalilović utilises her unique style to enhance the film’s underlying core of loneliness. At one point, Jeanne is at an ice rink, longingly watching others skate and laugh. Suddenly, the rink is empty (illogically, of course), leaving Jeanne alone as a single lost figure amidst the empty and cold scenery.

The Ice Tower isn’t just a mesmerising montage of stunning imagery. It is also a striking film that, despite its looseness and experimentation, crafts some captivating characters. It’s impossible not to be engrossed by Jeanne—a deeply vulnerable teenager, she carries herself with a necessary steeliness, only showing those huge emotional cracks at select points. The way she infiltrates the set of The Snow Queen is fascinating, as is the connection between Jeanne and Cristina that follows. The latter is enigmatic—perhaps too mysterious overall—and tempestuous, the kind of movie star that people don’t want to work with, despite her talents.

This intense character work is where Pacini and Cotillard shine. The latter is as absorbing as ever, bringing out her abusive tendencies gradually as the film progresses. Meanwhile, Pacini gives a star-making performance. The mixture of vulnerability and tough-upper-lip mentality is perfectly captured by her. Even if Hadžihalilović occasionally teeters into some mundane moments and irrelevant scenes, it never causes The Ice Tower to lose any notable impetus. The driving force is the battle between and merging of reality and dreams, and this is something that Hadžihalilović not once loses sight of.