11 May 2022

Review: The Velvet Queen

From At The Movies, 7:30 pm on 11 May 2022

A French documentary called The Velvet Queen comes with very little hoopla, despite featuring in Competition at Cannes last year.  

While it didn’t win anything there, it did very well at the French Oscars – the Cesars – unsurprisingly, it is very French.

The Velvet Queen’s title is never explained – though it may be a metaphorical synonym for the film’s McGuffin, the search for the, we’re told, extremely endangered Tibetan snow leopard.  

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Photo: Screenshot

In French nature documentaries, philosophic concepts often share the screen with undeniably stunning visuals.

There are three stars of The Velvet Queen, though only two appear on screen.   

Celebrated nature photographer Vincent Munier met adventurer and author Sylvain Tesson at a film festival and invited him to come to Tibet with him for his next project.

The prime intention was to Spot the Leopard, but Munier was clearly open to any other Tibetan beasts that may pop up to be photographed.  

Tesson was no slouch in the rugged location department either – his most famous novel and later film was set in the snows of Siberia. It seems he gave a Gallic shrug and said “Why not?”

It soon becomes clear that Tesson and Munier are very different people. Tesson is sociable, chatty and prone to the philosophic. 

He’s constantly looking at how simple activities illuminate the human condition, and he provides the film’s commentary.

Reclusive photographer Munier prefers to allow events to unfold.   His technique depends on the ‘blind’ – a fixed camera, hidden and camouflaged, that waits for animals to arrive.  

As you can imagine, sitting around day after day waiting for something to happen drives his colleague crazy.

I had no idea quite how arid Tibet is. Snow is rare in this film, as is vegetation, despite the fact that much of the wild-life is herbivorous. 

There are yaks, bharals – sort of mountain goats - mountain hares and hamsters - even what appear to be wild donkeys.

And watching them as intently as Munier and Tesson are the mountain predators. 

These include wild cats, foxes, wolves – even bears. But so far no sign of the elusive snow leopards.

But just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there, and aren’t looking at you. Munier describes how he once photographed a snow leopard without realising it. 

So brilliantly camouflaged was it, that it wasn’t until he developed the film weeks later that he realized what he’d got.

I said there were three stars to this film, the other being the cinematographer/co-director Marie Amiguet. Like a snow leopard, she brilliantly directed herself out of the picture, apart from one telling moment.

The adventurers are visited by some Tibetan children, one of whom draws a picture of the visitors climbing a mountain. There’s Vincent, there’s Sylvain – and to one side there’s Marie!    

And the other unseen leading figure in The Velvet Queen is soundtrack composer Australian musician Warren Ellis, best known for his collaborations with Nick Cave.

Nick makes a brief appearance in song near the end of the film. 

And the only other obvious example of directorial artifice is a couple of scenes featuring bored Tibetan soldiers watching these crazy French people climbing the Himalayas.

The soldiers have no idea why they’re doing it, but it’s nice they came back both in one piece and, it seems, slightly the wiser for the experience.   

That was my reaction to The Velvet Queen too.

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