The Ice Tower is a darkly beautiful reworking of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. Directed by French auteur Lucile Hadžihalilović, it follows the relationship that forms between Jeanne, a teenage orphan fleeing her foster home (the sublime Clara Pacini in her first role) and Cristina, a famous, troubled actress (Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard). A noir-tinged fairy tale set within an enchanted world of icy, crystalline beauty, The Ice Tower moves between the dream and human realm, two worlds imprinted by power, cruelty and a craving for love. It premiered in competition at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival where it won 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

CRITICAL RECOGNITION

The Guardian
No. 4 - Best films of 2025

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.