THE VELVET QUEEN/ LA PANTHERE DES NEIGES (SNOW LEOPARD)

France, 2021, 92 minutes, Colour.

Vincent Munier, Sylvain Tesson.

Directed by Marie Amiguet, Vincent Munier.

While there are many wonderful documentaries on our television screens, our venturing into landscapes which we are never likely to visit in our lives, to see birds and animals which seem to us quite exotic, all in the darkened cinema with the big screen, can be an overwhelming experience.

Which is the case with The Velvet Queen.

Vincent Munier is a wildlife photographer and has built up a reputation over 20 years. And, he is also a cinematographer. Sylvain Tesson is a writer, a novelist. Together they go into remote Tibetan mountains on a quest, ultimately to observe the little seen Snow Leopard.

In terms of cinematography, the shots of the mountainous landscapes, the flat plains, the valleys, the ever-changing skies, the seasons and their moods, are beautiful, of course, but, at times, also breathtaking. But, we are not just invited to look. We are invited to accompany the two men, get to know them, see the landscapes and the animals from their perspective, knowing that in such difficult circumstances their principles of ignoring pain, ignoring time, trusting that what they wish for will happen, we will be amazed.

The two men are not in a hurry, they often sit and observe, they place the cameras, are delighted when they see a bear high on the cliffs, herds of antelope racing, stags in combat, eerie looking cats searching for prey, and so many of the local animals in their habitats, unfamiliar to us.

The two men are assisted by their assistant director and the director of the film, Marie Amiguet – but the latter two are completely unobtrusive. However, with such wonderful placing of the camera, use of lenses for extreme close-ups, distant takes, sometimes the camera high on cliffs looking down on the explorers, attention given solely to the two men and their quest, we feel we are there.

In the background are some of the Tibetan nomads and their flocks, a small community which welcomes the two men, genial meals, and a group of happy children, the Frenchman trying to communicate in the local language. But, after these engaging human episodes, it is back out into the mountains and, the final reward, captured on film for us, the Snow Leopard roaming the mountains, killing prey, feeding, but moving majestically in a world that very few human beings see.

Music score by Warren Ellis and songs by (and sung by) Nick Cave.