Cannes Review: The Meltdown is a Fleeting Chilean Thriller

      As the midpoint of this year’s Cannes Film Festival nears, one of the standout films I've encountered is a Chilean thriller titled The Meltdown. Set in a snowy ski lodge high in the Andes, it follows a bright 9-year-old named Inés (played wonderfully by Maya O’Rourke) who befriends a German skier, only for the skier to mysteriously vanish. This intriguing mystery unfolds in 1992, less than two years after the democratic election of Patricio Aylwin and the conclusion of the Pinochet regime. At its core, the film suggests that some behaviors are difficult to change.

      The Meltdown is the newest project from Manuela Martelli, an actress-turned-director (she appeared in Sebastián Lelio’s Navidad in 2009, among other films) whose first feature, Chile ‘76, explored the psyche of a middle-class woman interacting with a political situation she had spent her life avoiding. In a sense, the protagonist of The Meltdown undergoes a reverse journey. An older relative urges her to stay silent after witnessing something that could threaten her family’s lifestyle—even though, under different circumstances, her knowledge could help find the missing girl or at least identify those responsible.

      Before confronting those tough choices, Inés’ life (and the world portrayed in Martelli’s film) revolves around warm winter clothing and monotony. The narrative, on a larger and smaller scale, addresses a generational divide that positions Inés as one of the few English speakers in her family’s hotel. This circumstance prompts her to spend her days helping staff as a translator—particularly the receptionist Techa (Paulina Urrutia), who has largely been caring for her while her parents are away, transporting a massive iceberg (about the size of a double-decker bus) to the '92 Seville World Expo. This remarkable real-life event, whose archival footage Martelli uses to open the film, was conceived to demonstrate that the newly democratic nation was advanced and ready for business. Nevertheless, not everyone is convinced. As Techa observes while watching an interview with Inés’ father on television, does this not also suggest that Chile still requires further healing from its dictatorship?

      In terms of the film, warmth enters with the introduction of Hanna (Maia Rae Domagala), a 15-year-old girl and Olympic hopeful whose intense training has forced her to pursue snow, effectively trapping her youth in a perpetual winter. This lack of sunlight has led to some intriguing pastimes: crafting gloomy diary entries, smoking cigarettes, listening to German industrial post-punk music, and sporting black nail polish. In essence, she embodies the cosmopolitan angst of Generation X, leaving Inés captivated. Seizing a rare opportunity for connection, Inés eagerly and diligently sets out to befriend her.

      From this point onward, The Meltdown transitions into a low-key thriller, culminating in an evening that starts with Inés assisting Hanna at the hotel bar and ends with her secretly watching as Hanna is persuaded to go out for the night. There’s also the shadowy figure of Hanna’s coach (Jakub Gierszal), whose relationship with her remains enigmatic—adding depth to the film’s theme of lost innocence. In the latter half of the story, the void created by Hanna’s disappearance is partly filled by her devastated mother (the remarkable Saskia Rosenthal), who, as her daughter reveals, was once a renowned skier for “a country that doesn’t exist anymore.”

      This compelling mix of shattered dreams and national disillusionment intensifies during one of Martelli’s inclusions of contemporary news footage, showcasing the early attempts to identify the countless individuals who vanished during the Pinochet years and were later discovered in mass graves. The Meltdown raises a fundamental question: will Inés come to realize in time that the country her parents knew is also no longer in existence?

      The Meltdown premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.