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| A radiant drop of water journeys through a parched, corporate-controlled future in Adrien Lhoste’s animated short Iridescence, a witty and visually intricate environmental fable about scarcity, survival, and wealth. (Photo Courtesy Adrien Lhoste) |
'Iridescence' Review: Adrien Lhoste’s Dazzling Animated Short Turns Water Scarcity Into a Near-Future Nightmare
In just over four minutes, Adrien Lhoste’s “Iridescence” accomplishes something unusually difficult for animation: It feels nostalgic, urgently contemporary, and genuinely futuristic at once. This compact French animated music video turns water scarcity into a tactile, mordantly funny vision of ecological collapse—and it does so with the formal confidence of an artist who understands that a short film does not have to be small.
A luminous blue drop of water, sealed inside a bottle and carried by a hovering drone, becomes the film’s unlikely protagonist. Its journey moves through a sun-blasted near future populated by grotesque, playful hazards: a man with a fishing net, a boxing kangaroo, giant jellyfish and, ultimately, a party for billionaires. The premise may sound absurdist, and it is. But Lhoste uses that absurdity with precision.
The jokes do not soften the film’s warning; they sharpen it.
What makes “Iridescence” so effective is its willingness to let visual invention do the argumentative work. The film’s world is built from an appealingly unstable mix of hand-drawn animation, three-dimensional imagery, photographed material, and handmade objects. Its fine black outlines and watercolor-inflected palette recall older modes of European illustration, while the drone’s clean, glassy geometry points toward a privatized, frictionless future. The blue droplet—saturated, radiant and vulnerable—becomes an immediate visual anchor against the film’s dusty pastels and dark contours.
There is a small miracle in the economy of the filmmaking. Lhoste does not overexplain the mechanics of this future, nor does he pause to lecture about climate catastrophe. Instead, he lets the image of a bottle of water being delivered by drone carry the weight of an entire political system: survival turned into luxury service, public necessity recast as a purchasable commodity.
The animation is also alert to scale. “Iridescence” begins with the vastness of Earth seen from space and closes in on the glowing cellular detail of the water drop itself. That movement—from planetary abstraction to microscopic fragility—gives the short a satisfying formal arc. It is a high-concept gesture, certainly, but never an empty one. The film understands that ecological crisis is both enormous and intimate: It concerns systems, borders and markets, but it is also about the body’s elemental dependence on water.
Lhoste’s strongest choice may be his refusal to make the drop and drone the only figures who matter. The film’s peripheral characters—its workers, animals and visibly vulnerable bodies—register as the first casualties of a society that has decided access to essential resources is negotiable. Even the invented corporate names carry a pointed satirical charge. This is a world in which everything vital has been branded, monopolized and priced beyond reach.
For all of its social critique, though, “Iridescence” never feels punitive. Its tone is poetic, sarcastic and, at moments, oddly tender. The film trusts its audience to follow the visual logic of its nightmare without being bludgeoned by it.
Lhoste’s accomplishment is especially impressive because the work feels complete rather than merely efficient.
This is the work of a filmmaker who can translate a private imaginative universe into cinematic form. Lhoste does not simply illustrate an idea; he constructs a moving, strange, and persuasive world around it. “Iridescence” announces an original voice—one worth watching closely as he moves through animation, short-form cinema and the more porous territory between them.
Director’s Vision
As Lhoste explains, “Iridescence” imagines water scarcity and extreme heat through “a poetic, sarcastic and sensitive vision.” The film’s central irony is embedded in its structure: It opens with workers attempting to gather rainwater and ends at a lavish gathering of billionaires, making clear that, in this near future, water has become a scarce resource available chiefly to the wealthy.
The filmmaker’s hybrid visual approach supports that critique. Traditional 2D character animation and watercolor-like linework coexist with a 3D drone textured to resemble drawing, as well as recycled materials used for clouds, coral and jellyfish. Lhoste has said that this use of found objects was both an environmental choice and a practical animation strategy, enabling richly layered tracking shots without sacrificing the handmade quality of the imagery.
The production’s official materials identify the film as a 2025 work by Partir à deux Production, supported by France’s CNC, and credit Pauline Chrétien for 2D animation, Judith Wahler for 3D animation, Théo Higel for cinematography, Manon Colin for production direction and Massive Dub Corporation for the music. The company also lists festival recognition and screenings across international venues.
About the Filmmaker
Adrien Lhoste is a French director, editor, cinematographer and colorist trained in La Fémis’s editing department. His professional record includes work across fiction, documentary, animation, music video and gallery installation, as well as directing credits for “Visages,” “Tu n’es pas fou Papi,” “Court-Circuit” and “Iridescence.”
His production company, Partir à deux Production, was founded with Manon Colin and describes itself as an inclusive, disability-welcoming production company.
Where to Watch
“Iridescence” is listed by its production company as available on YouTube. More information about the film, its festival trajectory, and the company’s work is available through Partir à deux Production.
Credits
Title: “Iridescence”
Year: 2025
Running Time: 4 minutes, 26 seconds
Country: France
Format: Animated music video / short film
Director: Adrien Lhoste
Cinematography: Théo Higel
Production Direction: Manon Colin
Editor: Adrien Lhoste
2D Animation: Pauline Chrétien
3D Animation: Judith Wahler
Music: Massive Dub Corporation
Production Company: Partir à deux Production
Support: Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC)
Official website:
“A rare animated short that feels nostalgic, urgently contemporary and genuinely futuristic.”
— Lapacazo Sandoval, AMNews Curtain Raiser
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