The Snow Queen tale by Hans Christian Andersen centres on the struggle between good and evil, as an icy sorceress seeks to create discord in the world, subjugating a child. This story has had incommensurable media adaptations, from the theatre to the silver screen. The latter includes Japanese and BBC productions, even an animated TV short narrated by Sigourney Weaver and a television movie starring Bridget Fonda. The most famous of all adaptations of the Snow Queen figure is Disney’s Elsa in the movie Frozen.
Ultimately, a film in Competition at the 75th Berlinale grasps inspiration from this fairytale character: The Ice Tower (La Tour de glace). The motion picture reunites Marion Cotillard with film director Lucile Emina Hadžihalilović, ever since they worked together on Innocence in 2004. This was the film with which the cineaste became the first woman to win the Stockholm International Film Festival’s Bronze Horse Award for Best Film.
The Ice Tower’s script is penned by Geoff Cox and is set in the Seventies. It follows the emancipation of a 16 year old called Jeanne (Clara Pacini) — that also goes by the name of Bianca — who runs away from a children’s home high in the mountains. She ends up in a film studio, where she gets hired to work as an extra on the set of The Snow Queen, starring the enigmatic Cristina (Marion Cotillard) in the title role. Jeanne, as an orphan, falls under the spell of this bewitching woman who could be her mother, just like the child of the original story who was seduced by the magnetism of the Snow Queen. The parable of domination and also child manipulation arises little by little, though a labyrinthine game where reality merges with the fantastical.
It is visible how the film has been shot by someone who has an eye for editing, even though the cutting of The Ice Tower was done by Nassim Gordji Tehrani. In fact, Hadžihalilović worked as an editor for a number of films before beginning her own projects, starting with her partner in life and art, Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé. Together they formed the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone in 1991. Their artistic partnership gave wave to Hadžihalilović’s first film after her graduation: La Bouche de Jean-Pierre, that was shown in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as being selected for various other notable festivals throughout the world.
The first images we see of La Tour de glace catapult us in a world of incantation, through an effect that reminds of the “gibigiana,” i.e. the play of light reflected from a sunlit area creating a prismatic rainbow effect. Coincidentally, this Italian word has a double meaning, since it also stands for a woman who flaunts her charm or who wishes to dazzle you with her elegance. Hence, this idiom can perfectly represent the enchanting portrait of Hadžihalilović’s version of the Snow Queen in a modern world. Some of her previous works already explored the theme of child abuse, and this time the subject matter is further inspected with majestic artistry.
In 2022, Hadžihalilović participated in the Sight & Sound film poll, that asks contemporary directors their favourite films. Amongst the ones she picked at the time, one can perceive how they have inspired her films, including The Ice Tower. For instance, amongst the pictures she cherishes there’s Michael Powell’s and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes, whose haunting aesthetic that she defined as “a trip on acid or mushrooms” seems to be evoked in her latest work. If the 1948 British drama had the ballet within the film mirroring the tragic story happening in real life, La Tour de glace has a film set serving the same purpose. The meta levels, where the make-believe intertwines with the mundane, makes the entire filmic experience transcendental, even more so since it’s majestically performed by the entire cast.
Final Grade: B+