The year is 2041. Mankind continues to explore the deepest reaches of space in an urgent attempt to find a new home in the stars. In hopes of becoming France’s representatives for the upcoming Eternity Mission, twin brothers Lázaro and Tristán spend their days and nights rigorously training at a prestigious military academy in preparation for their Astronaut tests. When a freak accident deforms and impairs Tristán, the most talented of the two, Lázaro is forced to contend with his brother’s new reality in a cut-throat environment that seeks only the best and brightest.

A deeply humane drama that invests ample time in portraying character relationships before introducing conflict and pushing its family unit to breaking point, TROPIC is understated and all the more potent for how imperceptibly it burrows under our skins. With assured direction, stunning 16mm cinematography and a gentle grasp of tone, writer-director Edouard Sallier has crafted an intoxicatingly earnest film about the depths of brotherly love, the yearning for unattainable perfection and a testament to the force of one’s willpower in the face of unfair and insurmountable odds.

Anchored by powerhouse performances, TROPIC touches on themes like alienation, Othering and coping with a crippling disability. It’s a poignant, unforgettable story that questions the nature of love and monstrosity in equal measure against a sci-fi background that slyly tips its hat to Cronenbergian body horror.