A French diplomat with elusive motivations in even more elusive circumstances wanders the island of Tahiti in Pacifiction, the latest exercise in languorous, maximalist cinema from Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra. The film focuses on protagonist De Roller and his murky political engagements, and though narratively sparse, Serra leans into extreme aesthetics; the French Polynesian paradise is so saturated with colour (and colonialism) it appears to be rotting.
Serra: Iwastiredofit. Atthe beginning, I was drawn towards historical films because we all knew, I liked the idea of exploring colonisation and power and hierarchy – these tensions, this lack of harmony in the relationship between human beings. These are subjects that have been constantly there in all my films.
