Sightlines · reception

How Border was received

2018 · Ali Abbasi · Border on Sightlines

The arc

It left Cannes 2018 with the Un Certain Regard prize and a reputation as the year's strangest film, passed around on pure 'trust me, go in blind' word of mouth; it's since settled in as a modern cult object and the film people point to when Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider, The Apprentice) comes up.

What’s debated

The perennial fight is over THAT scene — whether the film's big mid-point reveal is transcendently weird or a bridge too far, and whether it plays as tender folklore or pure provocation.

Its footprint

It's the canonical 'don't read anything about it first' recommendation — a fixture of 'weirdest movies ever' lists whose most infamous moment gets alluded to constantly but almost never described in polite company.

Where it stands

A Letterboxd cult favorite and litmus test: the arthouse-weird deep cut cinephiles use to sort the adventurous from the squeamish.

Did you know? Eva Melander gained around 40 pounds and sat through roughly four hours of prosthetic makeup each shooting day — work that earned Border an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling; the story comes from John Ajvide Lindqvist, the Let the Right One In author.