Pacifiction

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1:35

Pacifiction

Released Feb 17, 2023

2h 42m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

69 Reviews

62%

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.

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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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 (LAist)

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

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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

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Albert Serra

Director

Benoît Magimel

De Roller

Pahoa Mahagafanau

Shannah

Marc Susini

L'amiral

Matahi Pambrun

Matahi

Alexandre Mello

Le Portugais

Pacifiction: Trailer 1

1:35

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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: Andergraun Films, arte France Cinéma, Idéale Audience, Tamtam Film GmbH, Doco Digital, Rosa Filmes, Archipel Production
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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