Alice

Alice

Year: 1988

Runtime: 85 mins

Language: French

Director: Gabriel Benattar

FantasyAdventure

A quiet English girl named Alice chases a white rabbit and slips into a distorted version of her own world. She is surrounded by animated household objects and stuffed animals, confronting a surreal nightmare that forces her to navigate twisted, odd obstacles to escape. The film offers a bizarre, visually striking reinterpretation of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Alice (1988)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Alice (1988). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Time is presented as timeless and fluid, not tied to a specific year. The story moves through a sequence of shifting spaces that feel like a fairytale rather than a historical period. Monarch imagery and playing-card symbolism hint at a fairy-tale past, yet the era remains deliberately undefined to preserve the dreamlike mood.

Location

Alice's sitting room, brook by the house, writing desk on a hill, cellar, elevator past shelves, painted garden, storage room with specimen jars

The setting starts in a familiar home and quickly spills into a dreamlike landscape where rooms twist and doors lead to new realms. From a quiet brook to a glass-case world and a hall of doors, the film moves through a series of surreal locations. The environment blends domestic comfort with fantastical danger, creating a dreamscape where objects come alive and geography is fluid.

🌟 Dreamy 🧭 Surreal 🗺️ Shifting spaces

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:04

Main Characters – Alice (1988)

Meet the key characters of Alice (1988), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Alice

A curious and resourceful girl who navigates a shifting dreamscape after encountering the living White Bunny. She demonstrates determination and quick thinking, using wit to outmaneuver threats. Her journey blends childhood wonder with a growing resolve to shape her own story.

🎀 Protagonist 🧠 Curious 🌀 Imaginative

White Bunny

A cunning figure who breaks free from a glass case and manipulates events with a mix of charm and menace. He drives the action by demanding tasks and pursuing his own mysterious goals. His presence destabilizes the dream, keeping Alice on edge.

🎭 Trickster 🗝️ Key-bearer

Queen of Hearts

A capricious ruler who commands the court with theatrical authority and issues beheadings as a display of power. Her demands set the stakes for the courtroom and threaten Alice's safety. She embodies tyranny exercised through spectacle and fear.

👑 Ruler ⚖️ Tyrannical

King of Hearts

A sovereign who enforces the script and participates in issuing orders. His presence reinforces the formal structure of the dream court and the ritualistic nature of authority within the realm. He contributes to the sense of a rigid, rule-bound world.

👑 Authority 🎭 Ritual

Stocking-Caterpillar

A stockings-clad caterpillar who offers guidance about growth and shrinking through a mushroom. He acts as a cryptic mentor within the dream logic, shaping Alice's abilities to alter size and perspective. His advice is pivotal to navigating the dreamscape's rules.

🪲 Mentor 🌱 Transformative

March Hare

A wind-up host of a mechanical tea party, adding a whimsical but unsettling energy to the scene. He participates in the dream's ornate rituals and contributes to the clockwork feel of the world. His presence emphasizes the fusion of playfulness with unease.

🎩 Eccentric 🫖 Host

Hatter

A wind-up marionette who moves with a precise, timekeeping cadence, part of the dream's mechanical tea party. He embodies the era's blend of whimsy and control, complicating the boundaries between performer and prey. His actions propel the story through the party's surreal progression.

🧰 Mechanized ⏳ Timeless

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:04

Major Themes – Alice (1988)

Explore the central themes of Alice (1988), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

🪄 Fantasy

The movie embraces magical logic where objects awaken and doors transport characters to impossible places. Alice navigates a world governed by whimsy and risk, where imagination dictates action more than rules. The whimsy and danger are intertwined, driving her journey through curiosity and courage.

🪞 Identity

Alice undergoes transformations in size and form, challenging perceptions of who she is. The doll-like moment and changing shapes blur the line between self and role, prompting reflection on agency. The dream world forces a reconsideration of identity as flexible and evolving.

⚖️ Authority

Power is exercised through spectacle and ritual by a Queen and King who enforce a scripted order. The White Bunny's actions highlight how control can be both charming and dangerous. The clash between obedience and rebellion fuels the tension and drives the narrative toward confrontation.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 14:04

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Explore Movie Threads

Discover curated groups of movies connected by mood, themes, and story style. Browse collections built around emotion, atmosphere, and narrative focus to easily find films that match what you feel like watching right now.

Surreal subconscious journeys like in Alice

Protagonists navigate fluid, dreamlike worlds governed by distorted reality.Discover movies like Alice, where characters explore bizarre, dreamlike worlds. These films feature distorted reality, psychological disorientation, and a surreal journey into the subconscious. If you enjoyed the dream logic and unsettling whimsy of Alice, you'll find similar adventures here.

dreamlikesurrealunsettlingpsychologicalfluidsymbolicdisorienting

Narrative Summary

These narratives often begin with a character entering an altered state—through dreams, psychological breaks, or magical portals. The plot progresses not with traditional logic but with the associative, unpredictable flow of a dream. The protagonist is typically a traveler trying to make sense of an unstable world, facing symbolic challenges that reflect internal conflicts.

Why These Movies?

This thread groups movies that share a core experience of exploring a non-linear, subconscious landscape. They are united by a specific blend of whimsical tone and unsettling atmosphere, a variable pacing that mirrors dream states, and a focus on themes of identity and the blurry line between reality and fantasy.

Unsettling whimsical fantasies like in Alice

Whimsical settings mask a subtle, pervasive sense of dread and confinement.Explore whimsical fantasies with a dark edge, similar to Alice. These movies blend playful, surreal visuals with an underlying sense of dread and psychological tension. If you liked the quirky but nightmarish feel of Alice, this collection offers more stories where fairy-tale logic meets unsettling atmospheres.

quirkynightmarishconfiningmelancholicbizarrevisually strikingoff-kilter

Narrative Summary

The narrative pattern involves a character, often young or naive, entering a fantastical world that initially seems enchanting. However, the charm quickly reveals darker undercurrents—threats of control, loss of identity, or surreal dangers. The journey becomes one of resilience against a backdrop of beautiful but sinister oddities.

Why These Movies?

These movies are grouped by their distinct tonal blend: a primary whimsical tone consistently contrasted with unsettling or melancholic elements. They share a medium emotional weight and intensity, avoiding outright horror but maintaining a palpable sense of psychological threat and confinement within a fantastical framework.

Unlock the Full Story of Alice

Don't stop at just watching — explore Alice in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Alice is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Alice Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Alice, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Alice Summary

Alice Timeline

Track the full timeline of Alice with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Alice Timeline

Alice Spoiler-Free Summary

Get a quick, spoiler-free overview of Alice that covers the main plot points and key details without revealing any major twists or spoilers. Perfect for those who want to know what to expect before diving in.

Alice Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Alice

Visit What's After the Movie to explore more about Alice: box office results, cast and crew info, production details, post-credit scenes, and external links — all in one place for movie fans and researchers.

More About Alice