“Vis A Vis (2025)” is a psychological thriller that redefines the boundaries of perception, power, and redemption. Directed by acclaimed visionary Luca Guadagnino, the film stars Angelina Jolie in one of her most transformative roles to date. Set within the haunting walls of a high-security women’s penitentiary in the French Pyrenees, the movie unfolds with unsettling elegance, weaving together themes of justice, trauma, and forbidden connections. From the first frame, the atmosphere grips like a vice—dark, intimate, and charged with tension
Vis A Vis (2025) – Angelina Jolie
July 20, 2025
Jolie plays Dr. Elise Montclair, a celebrated criminal psychologist who voluntarily checks herself into the prison under a secret identity to evaluate the controversial “mirror therapy” program—a new method where inmates confront their worst selves in literal mirrored cells. But Elise is not just there to observe; she harbors a devastating secret connected to one of the inmates, and as her identity unravels, so does the illusion of control. Her performance is simultaneously restrained and ferocious, a quiet storm that builds toward a shattering climax.
The film’s title, “Vis A Vis” (face-to-face), is a clever double entendre. It reflects both the therapy sessions that bring prisoners eye-to-eye with their pasts, and the silent war between Elise and Wren—a charismatic, manipulative lifer played chillingly by Florence Pugh. Their interactions are laced with unspoken threats, psychological traps, and moments of unexpected intimacy. It’s a mental chess match where every glance could mean salvation or destruction. Guadagnino’s direction is hypnotic. He plays with shadows and light like a symphony, drawing the audience into the characters’ fractured minds. The cinematography by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom is stark and claustrophobic, emphasizing the inner turmoil of the inmates. Every corner of the prison is alive with secrets, and every silence speaks louder than screams. The score by Hildur Guðnadóttir pulses like a heartbeat, creating an emotional soundscape that is both eerie and intimate.
What sets “Vis A Vis” apart is not just its suspenseful plot, but its meditation on guilt and identity. It asks unsettling questions: Can redemption exist without truth? Can we ever truly face ourselves? Jolie’s Elise is not a hero or villain, but a woman haunted by choices, desperate to rewrite her narrative in a place built to erase stories. Her arc is tragic and courageous, a portrait of a soul at war with itself.
By the film’s final act, when identities are exposed and alliances shattered, the emotional crescendo hits like a thunderclap. “Vis A Vis” doesn’t end with explosions or grand speeches, but with a whisper—a final look in the mirror that leaves the audience questioning who they are. It is cinema at its most raw and poetic, anchored by a tour-de-force performance from Angelina Jolie that could very well redefine her career.