Albert Serra casts his eye on the tropics with this beguiling, satirical film. Benoît Magimel plays De Roller, the High Commissioner of French Polynesia, who has a problem on his hands: the French Marines have arrived on the islands, and their presence coincides with rumours that nuclear testing is soon to commence. De Roller sets out to investigate, but he’s repeatedly stalled and stymied. As the threats to his power grow, so does his pique, and soon he’s lost in a miasma of suspicion and resentment.
Shooting in widescreen, VIFF alumnus Serra conveys the lushness and languor of the tropics. From the menace of a darkened nightclub to the of the vastness of the Pacific waters, he conjures a milieu that is equally intoxicating and mysterious. An added delight is the colourful cast of characters: the beautiful, demure Shannah (Pahoa Mahagafanau); the drug-addled Admiral (Marc Susini); and the menacing Portuguese (Alexandre Melo). Pacifiction is moody, mellow, and (as storytelling) very murky, but it casts a haunting spell.
Supported by
Benoît Magimel, Pahoa Mahagafanau, Marc Susini, Matahi Pambrun, Alexandre Melo, Sergi López
France/Spain/Germany/Portugal
2022
In French and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Orwell: 2+2=5
Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck reimagines 1984 in this urgent essay on power, language, and control. With narration by Damian Lewis, it’s a chilling portrait of how Orwell’s warnings became our reality.
Cover-Up
Oscar-winner Laura Poitras and Emmy-winner Mark Obenhaus turn their lens on legendary journalist Seymour Hersh in a riveting film that unpacks how one reporter exposed the truths behind My Lai and Abu Ghraib — and what it takes to hold power to account.
Image: © The New York Times
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
Cutting Through Rocks
Winner of Sundance's World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Cutting Through Rocks follows Sara Shahverdi — motorcyclist, midwife, and first-ever councilwoman elected in her Iranian village. A vérité triumph by Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni.
Credits
Producer
Pierre-Olivier Bardet, Albert Serra, Montse Triola, Dirk Decker, Andrea Schutte, Joaquim Sapinho, Marta Alves, Laurent Jacquemin
Screenwriter
Albert Serra
Cinematography
Artur Tort
Editor
Albert Serra, Artur Tort, Ariadna Ribas
Original Music
Marc Verdaguer, Joe Robinson
Director
Albert Serra
Born in Banyoles, Spain in 1975, Albert Serra is a Catalan artist and director. His first feature, Honor of the Knights, was presented at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2006. In 2013, he received the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival for Story of My Death, a film inspired by Casanova’s memoirs. The Death of Louis XIV, starring Jean-Pierre Léaud as the Sun King, was an official selection for Cannes in 2016. Liberté won the Special Jury Prize at the 2019 Un Certain Regard section in Cannes.
Filmography: Honor of the Knights (2006); Story of My Death (2013); The Death of Louis XIV (2016); Liberté (2019)