Pacifiction: A meandering, mysterious meditation on French imperialism

There’s a Tahitian surfing scene in Pacifiction, the latest, cryptic feature from Albert Serra. Vast and choppy, it’s probably the only sequence the Catalan auteur has directed that might, at a squint, be confused with Point Break. In all other respects this meandering, mysterious 164-minute meditation on French imperialism is not for everyone.

When the film went home empty-handed from the 2022 Cannes Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or, there was a minor kerfuffle among francophone attendees. Pacifiction was subsequently named Cahiers du Cinéma’s film of the year and took home big prizes at the César Awards, including best actor and best cinematography.

Benoît Magimel has fun as M de Roller, the louche high commissioner who swans around French Polynesia in classic colonial white linens. When he isn’t glad-handing, he’s ogling the transgender dancers with a particular eye for the choreographer Shannah (the superb Pahoa Mahagafanau).

The female-presenting Shannah becomes an emblematic presence in a film that acknowledges the exploitation of locals while shrugging it off. C’est la vie.

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The appearance of a mysterious admiral (Marc Susini) hints at noirish wrongdoings. There are mutterings about the resumption in the area of French nuclear tests that had halted in 1996, but these intriguing subplots stubbornly refuse to yield a political thriller or a persuasive critique of capitalism.

That waywardness carries into the aesthetics. Shot on three hardly high-spec 4K Canon Blackmagic pocket cameras by the cinematographer Artur Tort and two camera operators, it’s cinematic in a pointedly gaudy, plastic way, with wide-angled tableaux that make one think of an AI Paul Gauguin.

It’s certainly something to see from the ever-enigmatic director of The Death of Louis XIV and Liberté. Don’t expect Point Break.