The Ice Tower is a bold, daring and ambitious film by Lucile Hadžihalilović that pushes the boundaries of film to new horizons in a homage to Powell & Pressburger’s The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus that taps into idolisation of celebrity and obsession with the status that comes from it. The mirrors of 15 year old Jeanne and celebrity Snow Queen Cristina, played by Marion Cotillard in an adaption of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale; are similar from the off – Cristina takes Clara Pacini’s Jeanne, now going as Bianca, under her wing – and the two’s emotions flair in a study of character and control; and the myth of the Snow Queen – those closest to her are demanded a sacrifice.
The drama is cold and unwelcoming and appropriately insane – Hadžihalilović has a unique touch that few directors can rival. Pacini is instantly established as a rising star – the next Cotillard feels like a lazy comparison given they’re both in the same film; but the compulsive repetition with the ice queen that Bianca seeks out in looking to find her own; new mother – is fascinating – visual skills with a camera and practical sets really adding a degree of ice and cool winter air that make the whole film feel all the more unwelcoming. Is the film set in the ‘70s or just in a space that echoes that time period – it’s a fact that’s never made fully clear and the film operates outside of time and space; feeling appropriately genre-less. The mythic of Andersen’s The Snow Queen is given a dash of Christian Petzold-esque realism, leering and incestuous in equal measure: is the relationship between Cristina and Bianca one of mother/daughter obsession or that of sexual desire? Hadžihalilović unlocks a rabbit hole of Freudian tendencies.
Both Cristina/The Snow Queen and Jeanne/Bianca have different roles and their back and forth revolves around a mentorship that quickly escalates ala Black Narcissus as Jeanne starts upstaging extras on set and coming into her own as the next heir; the next Snow Queen. It’s Cristina who makes the first move: they can be together or leave tomorrow and not look back – and from their power dynamic changes forever; inescapable lust and doom overriding The Ice Tower as it hurtles towards its earth-shattering conclusion. Cristina holds all the power – one second inviting Jeanne to drinks and the next leaving several hours early and leaving her in the cold. But Jeanne in turn worries Cristina that she’s looking at her eventual replacement – the Snow Queen demands a sacrifice from those closest to her; after all.
Dreamlike and tense with a trance-inducing unforgiving experience that’s best watched on a cold winters’ night, Hadžihalilović pulls you under her spell and keeps you hooked, gazing on the Ice Tower and the kingdom of the Snow Queen as though it’s imposible to escape from. Hypnotic and cold, calculated with understated performances – don’t expect scenery-chewing here; everything Cristiana and Jeanne do is designed to match the other’s energy – and the battle of wills between mentor and apprentice feels textually engrossing – Cotillard and Pacini both the victim of many a close up, and there are echoes of David Lynch and Powell & Pressburger at every turn; direct callbacks to The Red Shoes and the surrealism at the heart of Mulholland Drive is matched. Trailers bill this as Frozen meets Lynch’s magnum opus and they’re not far wrong. A fever dream that feels utterly unique in a way that few other experiences have created.