A runaway teenage orphan Jeanne (the sublime Clara Pacini in her feature debut) finds refuge inside a film studio where a new adaptation of The Snow Queen is being shot. There, she becomes drawn into the orbit of Cristina (played by the transcendent Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard), the film’s enigmatic and emotionally fragile star. As the two form a bond, a mutual and sinister fascination takes hold. A darkly beautiful reworking of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale, The Ice Tower is a richly textured meditation on longing, isolation, and desire. The film premiered in competition at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, where it was awarded the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

Berlinale 2025
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2025
Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award

Melbourne International Film Festival 2025
Official Selection

DETAILS

Aspect Ratio
2.35:1

Picture
Colour

Sound
5.1

Screening Format
DCP

Original Language Title
La Tour de Glace

REVIEWS

“A mesmeric melodrama, mixing sensuality with a teetering anxiety” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“This is not so much a film you watch as one you wake up from, shivering” — Isaac Feldberg, RogerEbert.com

“Casts a creepy spell that lingers and deepens in the mind long after it’s over. As only the best spells do” — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“Hadžihalilović is a director who refuses to compromise her very distinctive vision and that is the case here, even if The Ice Tower is her biggest film to date; utterly beautiful in every frame with a breakout lead performance by young French actress Clara Pacini” — Lee Marshall, Screen Daily

“The Ice Tower is as fragile and delicate as a snowflake, as disorientating and mysterious as adolescence, and as dark as a winter’s night” — Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

FURTHER READING

She Has Her Realm: Lucile Hadžihalilović on The Ice Tower

The acclaimed filmmaker talks about the freedom of perspective and access to the unconscious that fairy tales allow. — Laura Staab, via Mubi

A Midwinter Night’s Dream: Lucile Hadžihalilović on The Ice Tower

Psychotic fairytales, finding and following mood, and the sound of cold. —Saffron Maeve, Screen Slate

Films that inspired Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower

As Lucile Hadžihalilović’s dark fantasy ‘The Ice Tower’ opens in US theatres, the director shares her cinematic inspirations. — via Letterboxd