★★★★☆In French Polynesia, High Commissioner De Roller (Benoît Magimel) manages the delicate tensions between islanders and and the establishment, moving through society’s strata. Clad in a white linen suit and sunglasses, and perpetually sporting a downturned grin, De Roller is like the manifestation of political schmooze. That all of the film’s recurring locations – the hotel, Morton’s club – are transitory spaces, is key: Pacifiction presents a world without a centre, without permanency. At the non-centre of the film is De Roller, a truly amoral figure, not a person but a mirror that reflects back the unbalance of the world. Like silt on the bottom of a stagnant pond, power has settled, but, Serra suggests, this is not its natural state.

Source: The Local April 18, 2023 14:41 UTC