The Ice Tower (La tour de glace, 2025) Movie Review: An Achingly Beautiful Modern Fairy Tale

The ability to capture a dreamlike aura cinematically is not an easy task, as finding the right blend of pseudo-logic and nostalgia can be a challenge. Dream sequences are often utilized to instruct the audience on where to point their attention, when in reality, the subconscious should unlock something that has always been there. Lucile Hadžihalilović’s gorgeously shot fantasy drama “The Ice Tower” (Original title: La tour de glace, 2025) is hardly the first film to tap into the imaginative mind of a child, but it does distill itself to the purest form of the subgenre. While the period details and worldbuilding specifics are kept purposefully vague, “The Ice Tower” is a wonderful achievement in aesthetics that occasionally taps into something more personal.

Although The Ice Tower delicately carries a sense of mysticism rather than a firm historical context, the film ostensibly takes place in the 1970s, where teenager Jeanne (Clara Pacini) is mourning the death of her mother. Given only a few beads in which to remember her, Jeanne is terrified of the prospect of having to stay within an orphanage and decides to run away. She might not have internally decided what her next steps will be, but Jeanne stumbles onto the set of a cinematic adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen.”

Those familiar with the source text will know that the titular figure in “The Snow Queen” is a mysterious, beautiful queen of snowflakes, who has the power to free people from evil spells if they can solve her riddles. Although she offers the young heroes of “The Snow Queen” an escape from the monsters that hunt them down, she is often an elusive figure, whose extended existence is undercut by feelings of sadness. It was perhaps inevitable that “The Ice Tower” would cast Marion Cotillard in this role, as it would be hard to name another French actress who has been synonymous with beauty, intrigue, and singularity within the most recent generation of international cinema.

The Ice Tower (2025) — A still from “The Ice Tower” (2025)

Cotillard’s role is technically of Cristina, the actress cast to play the Snow Queen, but nothing in “The Ice Tower” is completely literal. Jeanne is at a young enough age that the sight of a gorgeous woman emerging from the ice could convince her that magic exists, a belief that isn’t shaken when Cristina’s old-fashioned movie star capabilities are on display. “The Ice Tower” is a mature fairy tale that gets into more complex themes regarding loss and mourning, but its depiction of the arts is as blissfully uncynical as it can get; while Cristina may be an actress playing a fictional part, her performance is so life-like that the difference between acting and reality is ambiguous.

“The Ice Tower” is not a particularly kinetic film, as it is largely composed of extended passages of observation and reflection. Jeanne, who has now taken on the name “Bianca” to mask her identity, is drawn into the production of “The Snow Queen” by Cristina and slowly becomes her co-star and potential successor. The anxiety of being replaced by a younger star is something that’s timeless in myths about the film industry, but it’s also integral to mythmaking. Regardless of who occupies the title, someone must be “The Snow Queen” and hold the responsibilities that the role entails.

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“The Ice Tower” could have easily been a more direct story of innocence loss or maternal reflection, but Hadžihalilović’s interpretation avoids grafting one-to-one comparisons between its different forms of reality. Although Jeanne initially looks to Cristina as someone who could replace the comforting image of her late mother, she soon becomes a mentor within her professional ascent, and later a true friend whose compassion is unlike anything she would have experienced with those her own age. “The Ice Tower” is fairly tame when compared to the more overt eroticism in other French fairy tale adaptations, but the hint of a sexual attraction between Jeanne and Cristina does complicate the situation.

Those who demand that their metaphors be easily digestible may be frustrated by the constantly changing dynamics, but “The Ice Tower” authentically replicates the different ways in which fairy tales are represented over the course of a young person’s life. There’s hope, fear, terror, and astonishment within different interpretations, but Jeanne is ultimately more comfortable in a world of wonder, where any real consequences can be subjective. “The Ice Tower” is a cold film, and not just because of its frosty visuals. Even though Jeanne is able to reach a process of self-actualization that would have never been possible without a stable home life, her imagination does not in any way fill the empty hole of sadness that she’s been cursed with.

The Ice Tower (La tour de glace, 2025) — Another still from “The Ice Tower” (*La tour de glace,* 2025

Pacini is a true discovery, as she has a level of restraint that is uncommon with young performers. Jeanne is a tricky character, as she must simultaneously represent the idealized young person, who contains traits of both an elementary-age child and a burgeoning young adult. It’s a credit to Pacini that the characterization feels consistent, and that at no point Jeanne’s maturation could be confused for detachment. Although “The Ice Tower” is restrained when it comes to grafting evident emotional conclusions to key moments in the original myth, Pacini has enough dexterity to provide much-needed catharsis.

Cotillard is asked to have a luminous, unknowable quality, as “The Snow Queen” herself feels like a role that could have been occupied by Ingrid Bergman or Katherine Hepburn many generations prior. It’s a mesmerizing performance that reveals itself to be more nuanced than expected, especially as Cristina’s own anxieties about her career are intertwined with the Snow Queen’s reflection on eternity. Cotillard’s presence in the film is suitably the drawing factor, but it never feels like stunt casting to find someone so perfectly suited to play the role.

“The Ice Tower” is not for those ambivalent about arthouse cinema, as even those who’ve familiarized themselves with the classics of Jean Cocteau or Robert Bresson might bristle upon the revelation that Hadžihalilović’s film is nearly two hours long. Even if indulgence is intentional, “The Ice Tower” is perhaps a bit too effective in showing the frustrating and ultimately disappointing ramifications of being too encased in the subconscious. Nonetheless, “The Ice Tower” is an inviting film, filled with mystery and wonder, that is worth admiring purely for its visceral merits.