The Velvet Queen

Directed by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier

Running time: 1hr32 | REVIEWED BY CATHERINE BRAY

Spot the velvet queen

“A Pallas cat, otocolobus manul, pops up on a rocky spike with its hirsute head, syringe canines and yellow eyes, rectifying with a demonic glint its plushy cuddliness. Don’t try to pet me or I’ll leap at your throat', said its grimace.”

This is the verbal style of this gorgeous wildlife documentary from Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier. It is a style that requires that you give yourself over to it and immerse yourself in the world of the film, which is a portrait of the wildlife of the Tibetan mountains, and in particular, the quest to photograph the elusive snow leopard. The film’s approach is a little different to what you might be familiar with from David Attenborough, reigning king of the genre (where the natural world is described with a forthright briskness and accuracy, underpinned by warmth that stops carefully short of anthropomorphism).

Nor does it seek to project the kind of cutesy narratives beloved of wildlife accounts on social media (“unlikely animal friendships” and the like). One of the things that seems to be particular to humans, as animals, is the desire and capacity to tell stories, and we just love to do this about the other animals with whom we share the planet, which has both positive and negative consequences — it’s easier to raise money to protect animals characterised as more relatable, which hardly seems fair on lizards and the like.

This documentary takes what could be described as a poetic-realist approach. The animals are respectfully observed, both in terms of the non-intrusive photo-journalism used to document small snippets of their lives, and it terms of the characterisations offered by our onscreen interlocutors, Vincent Munier and Sylvain Tesson. The animals are described realistically, but the language used is poetic. This approach is emphasised by the raw grace of a score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, and by the way that the camera situates its subjects in the wider landscape, marooning us in a desolate but beautiful part of the world, in a narrative building to a final unforgettable encounter.

THE VELVET QUEEN (LA PANTHÈRE DES NEIGES) (2021) Written by Marie Amiguet, Vincent Munier | Shot by Marie Amiguet, Léo-Pol Jacquot, Vincent Munier | Edited by Vincent Schmitt

In cinemas now.