In an undetermined future, society has divided into two sub-types: upper-class or "Uppers", and the rest of the world, mid and lower-class, named "Lowers". Uma is a privileged young woman who is adamantly against marrying another Upper, named Son. Instead, she falls in love with a working class young man named Markus. She is thus sent to Paradise Hills, a school for young ladies located in a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Waking up in Paradise not knowing how she a... (Full plot summary below)
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In an undetermined future, society has divided into two sub-types: upper-class or "Uppers", and the rest of the world, mid and lower-class, named "Lowers". Uma is a privileged young woman who is adamantly against marrying another Upper, named Son. Instead, she falls in love with a working class young man named Markus. She is thus sent to Paradise Hills, a school for young ladies located in a remote island in the middle of the ocean. Waking up in Paradise not knowing how she arrived there, she soon meets other students: Amarna, a pop-star who was sent after she decided to sing her own songs against the will of the company that controls her records. Chloe, a plus-sized young lady those parents want to turn thin and compliant. And Yu, a Lower who was sent by her aunt and uncle after refusing to inherit her family business. Uma then meets the eccentric Duchess, Paradise Hills' headmaster. She tries to convince Uma to marry up, just as her mother wants her to. Uma soon suspects a hidden purpose behind all the facility's luxuries. Its elegant staging and the daily sessions of make-up, hairdressing, good manners and therapy are not working on any of her classmates, either. While Amarna and Uma concoct a plan to escape; the latter becomes shocked when Markus appears as part of the Paradise Hills' staff. Amarna, who had started to feel attracted to Uma, feels bitter about this. Finally, alerted by Amarna about their dinners being laced with a sleep-inducing substance, Uma manages to investigate Paradise Hills at night. Discovering the bone-chilling truth: the island is a giant control room to analyze the students' behavior and appearance, in order to be replicated by Lower women, hired to replace the Uppers after the original women are killed. With time running against her, Uma and the rest of her girl gang must find a way to survive before they are up next.
Leave your thoughts about Paradise Hills.
| Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAlice Waddington makes her feature directing debut with this futuristic sci-fi psychological thriller, and she is a clearly talented visual stylist. |
| The VergeAdi RobertsonIt’s bizarre and often delightful. Paradise Hills captures a futuristic fantasy aesthetic that feels familiar in video games, but fresh in movies. |
| The A.V. ClubKatie RifeThis accessibility actually hurts the film, exposing the flimsy balsa-wood architecture under all those frills. |
| Film ThreatAlex SavelievParadise Hills has pacing issues, and a made-for-TV feel it can’t quite escape. A firmer grasp of tone would’ve benefited the narrative. Yet its creators’ boundless imagination carries it through the rougher patches. |
| TheWrapCarlos AguilarBlending dreamlike locations found in the real world with a dollop of visual effects, Waddington reaches the desired effect of a universe where technology and fantasy interact. Her cocktail of ideas yields a magical sci-fi thriller with an empowering edge, which, though imperfect due to its ambitions, puts women in charge of their own destinies. |
| The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinWords can't do justice to the truly lavish sets and costumes on display here which are so dazzling, intricate and bizarre they serve as a useful distraction from the awkward dialogue and plot holes. |
| VarietyDennis HarveyIf you’ve ever wanted a mashup of Disney princess movies and “The Stepford Wives” or imagined “The Handmaid’s Tale” as a swoony YA fantasy, Paradise Hills is absolutely the movie for you. |
| Slant MagazineSteven ScaifeAlice Waddington’s sci-fi fantasy never finds a cohesive story wrapper for its themes. |
| The New York TimesManohla DargisDespite her shaky handle on the movie’s ideas and the appealing if uneven performances, Waddington holds your attention with visual beauty and humor. |
| New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreIt’s a carefully crafted world of hyperfemininity intended to be as ominously smothering as it is pretty, and if the story that Paradise Hills, the directorial debut of Spanish filmmaker Alice Waddington, told were as sharp as its visuals, it’d have a guaranteed future as a cult classic. Instead, it’s a disappointingly half-baked riff on The Stepford Wives whose brand of feminism feels more 1970s than 2010s. |
