The Velvet Queen
A new French film shot in Tibet is so much more than just a wildlife documentary.
There are plenty of films which can be described as quintessentially French but that is not a term that you readily expect to apply to a documentary. Nevertheless, that is the very phrase that fits the special character of this film which was shot in Tibet and for which the French title is La panthère des neiges. This is, indeed, a work about animals and it thus belongs to a branch of documentary cinema which frequently offers great photography (this film is no exception) but which rarely exhibits any notable individuality as is unexpectedly the case here.
Central to The Velvet Queen are the wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and a friend of his, Sylvain Tesson, whom he invited to join him in what was a characteristic endeavour. Tesson, a novelist, is much travelled but in accompanying Munier to the remote high plateaux of Tibet he was discovering that his companion’s outlook, in particular his unity with nature and with the animals of the region, offered a restorative view of life that he had never known before. The true aim in visiting this area was to catch sight of the elusive snow leopard, but there was also much pleasure to be had in viewing the animals more readily found: wild yaks, bears, bharals and the Tibetan fox all vividly caught on camera.
Although there are scenes in which Munier talks to Tesson about his beliefs, the main voice we hear is Tesson’s since he narrates while we observe Munier’s unhurried, painstaking approach as he seeks to see and to photograph wild animals without disturbing them (Munier’s attitude to this undertaking is summed up in the phrase "Scorn pain, ignore time and never doubt you'll get what you desire”). The Velvet Queen, directed by Marie Amiguet and Munier himself, simply invites the viewer to follow them in their enterprise resisting as it does any background material of a biographical nature. In the event the quality of the footage amply sustains a feature length film assisted by a sympathetic music score by Warren Ellis (although for my own taste two brief vocal contributions from Nick Cave fit less well).
However, what marks out The Velvet Queen as a distinctive enterprise is the philosophical nature of the piece which finds expression both in Tesson's words and in the attitude to nature that makes Munier the man he is. The respect for nature itself will attract many and some will see value in escaping modern urban life and its dispiriting features to recover a direct bond with our planet. However, while the photographs taken may celebrate beauty, the viewpoint behind them goes much further: an animal is seen as the princess of the earth or as a vessel of suspended time and there is a lament here for what we have lost by living in an age in which the beasts, the humans and the gods are no longer - as the film puts it - in conversation. It is this deeply philosophical viewpoint which, whatever one's response to it, gives The Velvet Queen a character all its own.
Original title: La panthère des neiges.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Vincent Munier, Sylvain Tesson.
Dir Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier, Pro Laurent Baujard, Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurentin and Vincent Munier, Screenplay Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier, Ph Léo-Pol Jacquot, Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier, Ed Vincent Schmitt and Marie Amiguet, Music Warren Ellis and featuring Nick Cave.
Paprika Films/Kobalann/Arte France Cinéma/Le Bureau-Modern Films.
92 mins. France. 2021. US Rel: 22 December 2021. UK Rel: 29 April 2022. Cert. 12A.