Director: Lucile Hadžihalilović
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl, Gaspar Noé, Marine Gesbert
The Ice Tower is a 2025 French-German fantasy drama directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović, starring Marion Cotillard in a mesmerizing performance as a film-set Snow Queen whose allure ensnares a young orphan girl navigating the thin line between dream and reality in 1970s France.
What is The Ice Tower about?
Set in a remote mountain village during the 1970s, a fifteen-year-old girl named Jeanne escapes the orphanage that has been her only world and makes her way toward the city. Seeking shelter, she stumbles into what appears to be a simple shed — but morning reveals it to be an active film production set, where a lavish adaptation of a classic fairy tale is underway. The film's lead actress, Cristina, commands every corner of the set with the authority and cold magnetism of the queen she portrays. Jeanne is drawn into Cristina's orbit, becoming her protégée and closest confidante. What begins as a young girl's longing for connection and belonging gradually transforms into something far more unsettling, as the boundary between Cristina's fictional role and her real character begins to dissolve.
Cast & crew
Marion Cotillard brings an icy, magnetic authority to Cristina, the film's star who blurs the line between performance and identity. Clara Pacini anchors the story as the wide-eyed Jeanne, while August Diehl and filmmaker Gaspar Noé appear in supporting roles. Marine Gesbert, Lila-Rose Gilberti, Raphael Reboul, and Carmen Haidacher round out the ensemble surrounding the film-within-a-film's production.
Context & significance
Lucile Hadžihalilović has built a reputation for atmospheric, visually hypnotic cinema that centers on young women at pivotal moments of transformation — and The Ice Tower continues that signature approach. For Persian-speaking viewers in the diaspora, the film offers the kind of slow-burn European art cinema that rewards patient attention, rich in symbolism and set design. The fairy-tale framework — drawn from a beloved Hans Christian Andersen story familiar across cultures — gives the film an accessible mythological layer beneath its more unsettling psychological currents. With Persian dubbing available, the story is fully accessible to viewers who prefer to watch in Persian without reading subtitles.
Where & how to watch
The Ice Tower is available on K-Time with both Persian dub and Persian subtitles. Watch on the web, on your TV دستگاه, or on your phone — no extra download required, no VPN needed, no geo-blocking. Subscribe and cancel anytime.