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Pacifiction

Play trailer 1:35 Poster for Pacifiction Released Feb 17, 2023 2h 42m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
88% Tomatometer 69 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official DE ROLLER is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end 'establishment' as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumor has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.

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Pacifiction

Pacifiction

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Critics Consensus

Narratively sparse and visually vast, Pacifiction is a tsunami of a political thriller that philosophically rewards those willing to weather it.

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Critics Reviews

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Wendy Ide Observer (UK) With its slow-burning build, it is an unsettling, atmospheric piece that has something of the unknowable quality of the central character, with his glassy diplomat’s smile and shark’s eyes, inscrutable behind his blue-lensed sunglasses. Rated: 3/5 Apr 24, 2023 Full Review Jonathan Romney Financial Times Whether or not the film has anything politically serious to say — and there is always the teasing suggestion that it might — Pacifiction is an intoxicating pleasure. Rated: 5/5 Apr 20, 2023 Full Review Tim Cogshell FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) Very good and unsettling. Mar 15, 2023 Full Review Walter Chaw Film Freak Central For De Roller, what matters is that he reach a state of relational equilibrium between every player... Jan 4, 2024 Full Review Hector A. Gonzalez Loud and Clear Reviews Albert Serra’s latest feature, Pacifiction, mesmerizingly blends thriller genre tropes with surrealism to put the audience into a dread-induced hypnotic trance. Rated: 4.5/5 Jan 4, 2024 Full Review Alex Heeney Seventh Row With a languorous pace and a run-time of nigh three hours, Albert Serra’s Pacifiction is a spellbinding, if daunting, experience. Set in Tahiti, the film follows High Commissioner De Roller (Benoît Magimel) through his quotidian duties. Jul 31, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Cindy A Really a slow burn and hypnotic film about the aftermath of colonialism. Honestly I watched it as a deadpan farce about the French mind. Each scene offers a separate facet of the main character's absurd delight in making pronouncements about what he calls "our" island while the residents give him polite smiles. The lush backdrop and the indigenous people--how did they film this to look so dreamlike?--just keeps asserting their immense presence that then brings the characters to scale. Its splendid colors and purity by turns made the occupiers drunk with romanticism, relieve their guilt by allowing them to claim it as part theirs, and comically mocks the overactive and polarizing nature of their European mindset as human greed for power and paranoia, the buffoons stuck amidst the people who have been there an exponentially longer time. If you thought it was going to be an action movie and dislike slow burn movies, you won't like it...though why be mad it's not French fries when it's a lake of de la puree? Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/26/24 Full Review Alec B A John Le Carre thriller drained of urgency and clarity, which actually works better than you might think. The languid pace is genuinely hypnotic. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/04/24 Full Review PUPPETEERDOTBANDCAMP D Amazing film about the myth that colonization ended when it takes the form of tourism, military exploits, hedonism, land deals, drugs, illusions of freedom and power, cultural domination over the indigenous, a world of make believe. The colors and photography in this film are extraordinary. The scene of the boating competition on giant waves is truly thrilling. Nature is a major star in this film. Surrealism, realism, and critique merge. A cinematic classic. One of the most intelligent and powerful films of 2023. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/22/23 Full Review Mathew T This movie is terrible. The plot is weak, script contrived, the acting unbelievable. And the scenes are endless and pointless; dull conversation, slow, going nowhere fast. Someone must have thought they were making art. Fail. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/08/23 Full Review David B Grass growing for 2-1/2 hours would have been more exciting. You're welcome. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/18/23 Full Review Julia N Absolutely brilliant. Best cinematic experience of the fantasy state of leaders, the vileness of colonialism/post colonialism: people as objects not human. If you want to understand Johnson, Truss, Trump, this is the film to be patient with and watch. You will be rewarded. If you are greedy, you will hate this film Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic and French government official DE ROLLER is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end 'establishment' as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. Especially since a persistent rumor has been going around: the sighting of a submarine whose ghostly presence could herald the return of French nuclear testing.
Director
Albert Serra
Producer
Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Albert Serra, Montse Triola, Dirk Decker, Andrea Schütte, Joaquim Sapinho, Marta Alves, Laurent Jacquemin
Screenwriter
Albert Serra
Distributor
Grasshopper Film
Production Co
Archipel Production, Tamtam Film GmbH, Idéale Audience, Rosa Filmes, Doco Digital, Andergraun Films, arte France Cinéma
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 17, 2023, Limited
Runtime
2h 42m
Sound Mix
Digital 5.1
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
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