“La Panthère des Neiges” (The Velvet Queen) (G) ****

FRENCH wildlife photographer Vincent Munier wants to photograph the rare snow leopard in the mountains of east Tibet. 

This beautiful animal continues to elude him. Together with writer friend Sylvain Tesson, Munier searches for the prized animal at elevations of 4500 metres among peaks reaching 6000 metres. 

Marie Ambiguet joins Munier in writing and directing this visually awesome, philosophically rich, consideration of the power of the natural world and the authority that the really wild environment exercises.

Few filmmakers have ventured into that breathtaking, demanding, scary and, in its unique way, beautiful environment. 

In 2020, Frederic Larrey made “The Frozen Kingdom of the Snow Leopard”, a 52-minute documentary showing highlights of a full year in a snow leopard’s territory. 

The film made in 2021 by Ambiguet and Munier is 40 minutes longer than that. Its pace is slow, almost soporific. In some of the world’s bleakest, hard-to-get-at terrain, it goes among all manner of living creatures while saving the best for last. The snow leopard is the apex predator of the region. Other animals are there to provide it with sustenance – or so it may seem. And those animals make “The Velvet Queen” interesting.

While Munier scans the landscape for evidence of a snow leopard, Tesson considers what’s driving his friend’s pursuit. Voiceover ponders the relationship between humans and nature. “The Velvet Queen” invites filmgoers to encounter other animals that inhabit that sere, bleak environment, large and small, carnivores, herbivores, yaks, antelopes, asses or shaggy Pallas’ cat.

The film’s French title says all that it needs to say. Its Anglicised title is a bit enigmatic. The snow leopard shots, when they appear, provide an explanation that you wouldn’t want to test by trying to stroke one.

At Dendy