Pacifiction
Brooding anti-thriller about colonial bureaucracy and geopolitical power games on French Polynesian Tahiti. Film of the year according to Cahiers du Cinema.
Imagine a blend of a spy thriller and David Lynch, and you will get a picture of this film by radical Catalan director Albert Serra. Meandering, inscrutable, taking its time, without a strong plot, let alone a clear conclusion. But at the same time also dreamlike, sensual, at times surreal cinema in its purest form, with beautiful images brimming with colours that, above all, evoke an atmosphere.
The story revolves around a high commissioner of the French government on Tahiti, De Roller. Invariably dressed in his white tropical suit, he radiates the promise of making things better for the locals. These seem like empty promises, but then rumours circulate that a French submarine off the coast is preparing new nuclear tests. This leads to much unrest among the population. De Roller goes to investigate. En passant, we get a picture of contemporary colonialism and a local community struggling with the complex dynamics of (sexual) exploitation on the one hand, and lucrative tourism on the other. A film to languidly immerse yourself in. (jc)