Face-Off

A hushed, wintry chamber piece that drifts between memory and confrontation, leaving you unsettled and quietly moved.

Directed by

Pascal Chaumont

Genres

Drama

Starring

Roger Léger, Loic Oliviera, Samuel Paul-Hus

Overview

A frigid night blankets a neighborhood skating rink. Théo, 14, skates alone in endless circles, as if trying to escape something that haunts him. Then, a presence emerges. His father. Words are exchanged, glances meet. But beneath the surface, what unfolds goes far beyond appearances: regrets, silences, a need for answers. Not far off, Gabriel, his friend, watches the scene alongside his grandfather Paul — a silent witness to a moment that feels larger than life. Face-Off is an intimate drama brought to life through a minimalist and restrained direction, where the ice becomes a mental space — a place of inner confrontation. Through this open-air chamber piece, the film explores isolation, and the visceral need to speak what was never said. Hovering between realism and disquiet, Face-Off intentionally keeps the viewer in a hazy in-between — where emotion takes over reason, and absence becomes almost tangible.

How it feels

Melancholic, tense, eerie and earnest. Slow-burning and demanding.

About

Isolation, grief, family, memory

Content

Mild language. No violence, gore or sexual content.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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