SCREENING
Pacifiction
Friday, Jan 19, 2024 at 6:30 pm
Location: Bartos Screening Room
Part of Curators’ Choice 2023
Dir. Albert Serra. 2022, France/Spain/Germany/Portugal. 165 mins. DCP. With Benoît Magimel, Pahoa Mahagafanau, Marc Susini, Alexandre Melo. A mesmerizing fever dream of a movie, this compelling and moody masterpiece from Catalan filmmaker Alberto Serra (The Death of Louis XIV) is both drenched in atmosphere and provocative in its wide-ranging ideas about the legacies of the colonialist European mindset. A commanding Magimel plays a cagey French bureaucrat named De Roller who has come to a French Polynesian island, where he operates as a seemingly benevolent High Commissioner. While on the island, whose indigenous locals are encouraged to cater to the tourist economy with exoticizing shows, De Roller begins to sense a permeating anxiety, which could be related to the suspicion that France has resumed nuclear testing in the area. Certainly one of the most visually striking films of recent years, Pacifiction is a film of simmering tension and extreme natural beauty in equal measure. A Grasshopper Film release.
Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.