"La panthère des neiges" or "The Velvet Queen" is a French French-language film from 2021 and so far the biggest career achievement by writers and directors Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier. Not that this means a lot as they have really not been too prolific yet. Still, their effort here has made some solid awards waves at the Césars and also Cannes Film Festival. I am glad it is getting the attention and also shown abroad now. The French title is pretty telling what this film that runs for slightly over 1.5 hours is about. A wild predator up there in the snowy regions of Tibet. This is where pretty much the entire film is set and Munier you also see a lot in front of the camera here. As I stated in the title of my review, the absolute highlight are the nature recordings, like certain effects as well, traces, light and shadows and, most of all, the animals depicted here. It does not matter if this is about small owls, rodents, big yaks or speficic ungulates. The title makes it obvious that the two protagonists here are on the hunt to shoot the rare snow leopard. Shoot it with their camera that is. Obviously. Record it. However, this was also where the film was struggling a bit, like it really moves away from this animal for almost the entire film and then near the end returns to it again when suddenly some video camera footage shows up mirasulously and one guy keeps talking about how he does not expect them to see the leopard anymore, but of course, only moments later, there it is all out of nowhere and ready to dine as well. Not our two heroes obviously, but some prey instead. So here and there this documentary did feel a bit scripted unfortunately. What I disliked even more though was the narration. I mean I don't need the narrator to tell me the basic stone-cold facts how old these animals get, when their mating season is etc., but what was said here, did feel highly pretentious at times, like when he was rambling on about the old blurry long-gone times in which animals, humans and gods shared the same language. This was really too much. Many other examples. Then I would have actually preferred to instead just focus on the adventure. Include those words that the two men are saying to each other and that is enough. There is the music anyway, so it would not be silent. Also sound effects of course.
Here and there, the two guys also meet other humans that live up there and have the occasional charming interaction with them, like when one talks to a boy about his age. Language barrier. This reminded me a bit of the recent film Lunana, which would make for a nice double feature with this one, even if Lunana is set in Bhutan and this one here in Tibet as I stated earlier. But hey, both have yaks. Nick Cave is a part of this film, maybe the biggest name attached to it and a bit of a surprise because this is not an American (or British) production. Anyway, if you love Nick Cave, it is cool, but not really a big reason to watch this one here. I am not sure if some of the stuff you hear throughout the film came from him, but there is a song that we hear during the closing credits and this is his main contribution. There is always a certain roughness to Cave and his music and it fits the cold climate up there where the film is set. We see the exact temperatures from the camera recordings. During the day down to -15°C, at nights even considerably lower than -30°C. Really heavy. Brrrr. No surprise the two men wear really warm clothes. In terms of the message, I liked the film. We surely should go through this world with much more open eyes and an open mind and we will see so many wonders, big and little, that we otherwise might miss out on. This can be trained. Go for it. So from this perspective, I think it is an inspiring film, even if this message does not necessarily have to do with where the documentary takes place. The region I mean. I just really hope that the guy who made this statement about nature flying by, flying past him while he goes from one occasion to the next and promotes an idea he does not even follow himself, that he really learnt something from it and also keeps his eyes more open now and is not back to his old habits. Or at least not fully.
It felt a bit like this animal documentary Stephen Fry made a while ago, Last Chance to See, only that this one here was not remotely as good, but the playfully clumsy narrator guy who is overwhelmed by the miracles of nature was one parallel between the two. Maybe other similar aspects too. However, we also see some cruelties here. How nature kills nature. Look at how at the very beginning a young calf (yak? Something like that) is killed by wolves and there is no chance for its mother to save it. Its lost life, however, helps the wolves in staying alive. Later on, we see a fox kill a rabbit. This was a bit sad too because the rabbit while bitten already and with serious (probably eventually lethal) wounds still constantly tries to run away. Run for its life. And in the end of course the snow leopard is there with its prey too, even if there we do not see how it got killed. Or how the leopard dragged it there. Only that he is there and eats. I mean this was a bit of a contradiction because right before that they say that the leopard is watching them closely and waiting for the two (or three if you count the camera(wo)man) to get away and immediately afterwards they say that the leopard does not even care that they spent the night there right next to him basically. As for the two people, I must say I have no clue who they really are. There is only a very brief introduction. One of them has been on similar journeys in the past already apparently and a handful locations are quickly mentioned and that is all we find out, only that on another occasion we get some additional description about the man that also felt a bit scripted and too exaggerated. Why one man appreciates and admires the other so much.
So maybe the best idea is to indeed watch this film, but maybe watch it with sound off. Mostly because of the frequently confusing narration I mentioned earlier. The beauty lies in the photgraphy anyway. That really special colorful bird at the very end was also a revelation. Utter beauty. Too bad we do not find out anything about it anymore before the closing credits roll in. So a nice way to end the film, yet a bit random. Other really nice camera shots showed us how the animals are perfectly disguised in nature. Even a big bear is difficult to put a finger on and let's not even talk about the smaller ones. Or in terms of the light vs. Shadow inclusions from earlier, sometimes the rocks are just as black as the animals standing on them while the sky and horizon have the most amazing colors. Mesmerizing scenes. That's all then. This film gets a thumbs-up from me, but it is not as enthusiastic as I would have liked it a to be and I am a huge fan of nature documentaries, especially when the focus is on animals, but this one here is just not among the very best. They should have done without the pseudo drama about the potential danger of animals maybe approaching them etc. You will know what I mean when you see it. This documentary should have been much more essential. Maybe still among the best (or at least better) from 2021 and that is why it deserves to be seen. Thumbs-up. Go for it, maybe at the movie theater, maybe at home. But it deserves a chance I guess.
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