★★★★★
“A mesmeric melodrama, mixing sensuality with a teetering anxiety”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Colder than ice, her kiss pierces the heart…
The 1970s. Runaway Jeanne (Clara Pacini) falls under the spell of Cristina (Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard), enigmatic star of The Snow Queen, a film of the Hans Christian Andersen story being shot in the studio where Jeanne has taken refuge. A mutual but potentially dangerous fascination begins to grow between the actress and the girl.
A richly textured and deeply moving tale of longing and solitude, this dark and mesmerising modern fairy tale will make a highly original and alternative festive release in the run-up to Christmas.
The fourth feature by Lucile Hadžihalilović, The Ice Tower premiered in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Credits
France, Germany 2025
118min
Certificate TBC
DCP
French with English subtitles
Dir Lucile Hadžihalilović
With Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl
Previews
November
11 November
Inverness Film Festival
13 November
French Film Festival London
18 November
Cornwall Film Festival
19 November
The Arzner, London
20 November
IFI French Film Festival
Release screenings
November
21 November
BFI Southbank, London
ArtHouse Crouch End, London
Barbican Cinema, London
Chapter Cardiff
Curzon Bloomsbury
Edinburgh Filmhouse
Garden Cinema, London
Glasgow Film Theatre
HOME, Manchester
ICA, London
Watershed, Bristol
30 November
Triskel Arts Centre
December
4 December
Richard Booth’s Bookshop Cinema
12 December
The Ashford Cinema
The Dukes, Lancaster
Northampton Filmhouse
Plymouth Arts Centre
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast
Towner Gallery Eastbourne
Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford
Courtyard Hereford
16 December
Forum Cinema, Hexham
17 December
Nerve Centre, Derry
19 December
Storyhouse Chester
Warwick Arts Centre
20 December
MAC Birmingham
27 December
Firstsite Colchester