The Ice Tower (La tour de glace) is the fourth feature by Lucile Hadžihalilović. The film premiered in the 2025 Berlinale competition, making it the first time that any of the director’s films was presented in a major European competition. The previous films all opened at TIFF. Set in the 1970s, the film follows Jeanne (Clara Pacini), a 15-year-old orphan who flees her foster home in a snowy mountain village, seeking freedom in the city. After stealing the ID of a girl named Bianca and looking for a place to sleep, she breaks into a building, unaware it’s a film studio where The Snow Queen is being filmed, starring the renowned actress Cristina van den Berg (Marion Cotillard).

Jeanne is discovered by Cristina, but instead of giving her up, the latter ends up getting a bit part in the production, and the two end up spending a significant amount of time together even though Jeanne, sorry Bianca, seems to have an obsession with Cristina. Or is it due to the part she plays? As the oldest in the foster home, she was the bedtime storyteller, and the story she told was, lo and behold, the Snow Queen’s. What a coincidence! It is almost like someone made the story up. I use the word story loosely. Anyone who has seen Hadžihalilović’s previous films knows that it is not her main objective; instead, she focuses on… That is the question.

What is the focus of The Ice Tower? What lies in or behind the supposedly beautiful images with their carefully chosen props? An image early on is a litmus test for how the spectator will react to the film. While fleeing, Bianca encounters a bridge crossing a river. The way the bridge is lit and framed looks either intense and captivating or like a knockoff by someone who watched arthouse films without ever getting their essence. It is not the artificiality that is the issue. Other directors like Guy Maddin or Wojciech Has have repeatedly utilised artifice with full control of the medium. Something that Hadžihalilović is never close to achieving. Instead, we are treated to kitschy ennui.

The Ice Tower powered by dry ice

My mind drifted to the Quay Brothers’ tedious version of Sanatorium Under the Hourglass more than once. That film’s runtime was 75 minutes, but it felt longer. The Ice Tower clocks in at 118 minutes, which feels like an eternity. The pacing is glacial, which could inspire the spectator to make word puns considering the main character. Whatever the outcome, it is bound to be way more subtle than Jeanne calling herself Bianca, referring to the fake white stuff floating in the air during the shooting of the film within the film.

Fans of Hadžihalilović’s work should feel at home. The production designer Julia Irribarria and the cinematographer Jonathan Ricquebourg from Earwig (2021) are still on board. The director’s style, or lack thereof, is instantly recognisable. In Arthur Penn’s masterful Night Moves (1975), Harry Moseby’s wife invites him to see My Night With Maude with her. He rejects the suggestion, saying that “he saw a Rohmer film once, and It was kind of like watching paint dry.” I was considering making a similar pun with dry ice, but as everyone who had it presented along with a dessert in a restaurant knows, it actually creates an effect.

I have never been a fan of Hadžihalilović’s films, thinking that they rely too much on a vague mood with purportedly deep connotations. However, the Stockholm Film Festival awarded her the MaIn Prize, The Bronze Horse, for her debut feature, Innocence (2004), which incidentally also featured Marion Cottilard. In The Ice Tower, all the thespians seem deserted and lost, including August Diehl and Gaspar Noé as the director. The shining exception is newcomer Clara Pacini, as Jeanne, whose character is the only one who doesn’t appear to be frozen by boredom. It is not the first time that the director seems most confident working with children.

I was surprised to come across some positive reviews, even if many of them contained serious reservations. An even bigger surprise was the Silver Bear the film received for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. The award was given to “the creative ensemble.” If any film should have been awarded for its look, it is Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Reflet dans un diamant mort).