The film is set to star Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, Rust and Bone, Two Days, One Night) and newcomer Clara Pacini.
BFI Distribution announces that The Ice Tower, co-written and directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on the 21st November 2025.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Colder than ice, her kiss pierces the heart… The 1970s. Runaway Jeanne (Clara Pacini) falls under the spell of Cristina (Marion Cotillard), enigmatic star of The Snow Queen, a film of the Hans Christian Andersen story being shot in the studio where Jeanne has taken refuge. A mutual but potentially dangerous fascination begins to grow between the actress and the girl.
The Ice Tower reunites Lucile Hadžihalilovic and Marion Cotillard, having previously collaborated twenty years ago on on Hadžihalilovic’s first feature Innocence.
Clara Pacini stars in her first ever feature film role, with supporting cast August Diehl (Inglourious Basterds, A Hidden Life, Salt) as Cristina’s doctor, Max, and director Gaspar Noé, who has a small cameo role as film director Dino. The stunning cinematography is by Jonathan Ricquebourg (The Taste of Things, The Death of Louis XIV), production design is by Julia Irribarria and costumes by Laurence Benoit. Sound design is by Ken Yasumoto.
The film is co-written by by Geoff Cox and Lucile Hadžihalilović and is produced by Muriel Merlin. It is a co-production between 38 Productions, Sutor Kolonko, Davis Films, Arte France Cinéma and Bayerischer Rundfunk, with Arte. It will be released on BFI Player in January 2026.