Here’s an excellent, creepy fantasy drama written and directed by French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović. The Ice Tower (La Tour de glace) stars Marion Cotillard and Clara Pacini, with the former’s haughty film star shooting a 1970s film adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen (1844).
What plays out is Cotillard’s character stalking a teenage orphan, manipulating her as the film’s icy set increasingly blends reality into fantasy.
Youthful Naivety Meets a Haughty Queen in The Ice Tower
The narrative follows the difficult life of teenage orphan Jeanne (Clara Pacini in her debut role). She runs away from her orphanage, adopts the new name Bianca, and ends up sleeping rough at the back of a film set.
Whilst there she gets mistaken for an on-set extra and is drafted into the production. There she first glimpses the beautiful, mysterious Christina, a disillusioned French film star kind of in love with her own legend.
Christina is the star fronting an adaptation of The Snow Queen. We see her glamour and talent on set, but behind the scenes we discover a rage-filled and not entirely pleasant, bitter lady.
SOME SPOIERS AHEAD! Christina’s icy personality is, of course, directly suited to the film she’s helping depict. She does, however, take an interest in Bianca (who lies that she’s 20, when she’s only 15) and brings her in under her wing.
She then provides Bianca with a more prominent role in the film and even sets her up at a fancy hotel near the studio.
In her naivety, Bianca mistakes this behaviour as affectionally maternal and starts viewing the situation through a surrogate mother lens. For the viewer, it’s clear Christina’s motives aren’t quite as pure. As the narrative reaches its conclusion, and the in-film production wraps, that’s when we discover who Christina really is. A fantastically loathable performance from Marion Cotillard, this is an ice Queen predator for the ages.
Yet it’s not without reason. There are hints along the way Christina is the way she is through the oppressive weight of patriarchal structures in the film industry. It’s as if she’s trapped, traumatised, and cowardly in her release of all her pent up rage. Ultimately, she uses a teenager for her abusive release.
Where director Lucile Hadžihalilović excels in The Ice Tower is with merging fantasy with reality. Sometimes it’s unclear if Bianca believes herself part of The Snow Queen’s universe, not on a set.
Across that the film’s brooding tone is supported by barely any dialogue. There’s Christina’s haughty gaze, and the searing icy cinematography, which make it a darkly lush experience about damaged souls.
The Production of The Ice Tower
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s body of work is avant-garde, her other films include Evolution (2015) and Earwig (2021). She co-wrote the screenplay and the shoot began in Paris from January to March 2024. Exterior shots were filmed in Yvelines (the Île-de-France region) and also in Bolzano of Northern Italy.
The film had a €4.9 million (£4.1 million) budget. It had a considerable run at European film festivals, but received only a limited release at select arthouse cinemas and then hit streaming services with a vengeance. It’s a shame, as we would have loved to see this at the cinema, but it didn’t hit mainstream cinemas.
As a result, the film made less than $50,000 at the global box office. But this was no flop in the traditional Hollywood sense.
You might wonder why someone would go to great lengths to make a film, but then not release it “properly”. Fact is, a wide theatrical rollout costs a lot and for a surreal French-language drama like this it would’ve led to financial losses. Ice Tower received its funding from European public arts grants, subsidies, public TV stations (ARTE France), and the European festival run then gave it exposure. Metropolitan Filmexport also distributed it.
Also, Marion Cotillard’s star presence drew more attention in. She’s been in some massive films over the years, such as Christopher Nolan’s 2010 classic Inception, but frequently supports these small independent productions.
The Ice Queen is now available on streaming platforms such as BFI Player and MUBI, plus it’s out on Blu-ray and DVD, so will recoup plenty from film buffs like us hunting it down to watch it.
The film first premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. Critically, it’s been divisive, but some key film critics loved it (such as Dr. Mark Kermode higher up, and The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw gave it 5/5).
We’ve seen various film buff reviews online hating on it. Opinions and all that, but we don’t agree.
The Ice Tower featured in many of 2025’s Best Films of the Year lists, but we’ve rarely encountered something so acclaimed that’s so difficult to find and watch. We recommend you hunt it down on MUBI or whatnot to make your own mind up about it, but for us this is another modern French classic up there with Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019).
