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Pacifiction

Play trailer 1:35 Poster for Pacifiction 2023 2h 42m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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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) 04/24/2023
3/5
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. Go to Full Review Jonathan Romney Financial Times 04/20/2023
5/5
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. Go to Full Review Tim Cogshell FilmWeek (LAist) 03/15/2023
Very good and unsettling. Go to Full Review Walter Chaw Film Freak Central 01/04/2024
For De Roller, what matters is that he reach a state of relational equilibrium between every player... Go to Full Review Hector A. Gonzalez Loud and Clear Reviews 01/04/2024
4.5/5
Albert Serra’s latest feature, Pacifiction, mesmerizingly blends thriller genre tropes with surrealism to put the audience into a dread-induced hypnotic trance. Go to Full Review Alex Heeney Seventh Row 07/31/2023
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. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Cindy A @CindyK 06/26/2024 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? See more Alec B @Alec97 03/04/2024 A John Le Carre thriller drained of urgency and clarity, which actually works better than you might think. The languid pace is genuinely hypnotic. See more Mathew T @RT15902818 08/08/2023 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. See more David B @Dobishop 05/18/2023 Grass growing for 2-1/2 hours would have been more exciting. You're welcome. See more Read all reviews
Pacifiction

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Cast & Crew

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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
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Pacifiction

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Pacifiction

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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
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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