email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

LES ARCS 2021

Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier • Directors of The Velvet Queen

"We’re all sensitive to this type of beauty; we need it"

by 

- We met with the duo who joined forces with writer Sylvain Tesson to create a moving and fascinating documentary, which was unveiled in Cannes and is now hitting French cinemas

Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier • Directors of The Velvet Queen
(© Maëva Benaiche)

Unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival (within the Cinéma for the Climate selection), The Velvet Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Amiguet and Vincent M…
film profile
]
by Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier has just been nominated for two 2022 Lumière awards (in the category of Best Documentary and Best Musical Score, the latter coming courtesy of Warren Ellis and Nick Cave). Screened in a premiere at the 13th Les Arcs Film Festival, where we met up with the filmmakers, the feature film is released in French cinemas today via Haut et Court Distribution.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Cineuropa: Where did the idea for this Tibet-based film come from?
Vincent Munier: Creating naturalist adventures and making films is pretty much my bread and butter. I started out as a photographer and then I made a few small-scale documentaries over the next ten or so years. After spending a decade in the Arctic, I decided, in 2010, to start a new chapter in Tibet. I travelled there a few times and I wanted to recreate that experience through different media: the book, and a film which is light years away from a wildlife documentary. The idea was to work with the writer Sylvain Tesson, who could lend a higher-brow perspective to proceedings, and for an exchange to take place between the two of us. I also called upon Marie Amiguet - a real director who’s used to the wilds of nature - to film us stealthily, capturing important moments in our conversations without disturbing us. In my opinion, that’s what lends the film its sincerity and authenticity.

Marie Amiguet: Starting out with a nature-lover like Vincent, going to Tibet which is a destination I’d dreamed of travelling to, doing so with a writer like Sylvain whose books I loved reading, and hoping to see unknown animals in majestic landscapes: it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Why the panther, over and above any other animal?
VM
: In the world of travel and naturalist adventures, the panther is a bit of a Holy Grail, they’re considered to be rather ghost-like. But there are a lot of other animals in the film too. I’d read books by biologist George Schaller who embarked upon various expeditions to Tibet in the 1970s, and the idea of discovering all that was really exciting because we’re familiar with African animals, but not so much with those in Tibet, as it’s a far more complicated terrain in terms of its geopolitics and its altitude and coldness. I’m fascinated by lands which are a bit hostile, and I find local animals’ ability to adapt to these severe conditions remarkable. Some of them have survived through the ages, such as wild yaks. All of these things made me want to make the journey there, with the panther as our guiding star, our challenge, our goal. The film moves from one encounter to the next, but it was also a bit of a gamble because there were no guarantees we’d come across any panthers.

How was the film edited, given how disparate your material was?
MA
: There were about 50 versions of the film, between the first which was very chronological and spontaneous, almost a “making of”, and the final movie-theatre copy. Vincent had accumulated an unbelievable amount of animal footage, but we also needed to tell a story. In my mind, from the outset, the panther was only meant to be a pretext or a lure. The important thing was to take off our blinkers and to observe what happens when you simply stop and take the time to look at a landscape; waiting, being silent and being aware of what it gives us, as human beings; how it calms us, gives us a sense of well-being and joy to see things we’re not familiar with, and encourages us to respect others.

What about the "subliminal" message about the destruction of the planet?
MA: Certain versions of the film were far more direct on this point, but we didn’t want to guilt-trip people and harp on about the way things are headed in order to convey our message. Instead, it’s implicit, conveyed through the conversations Sylvain and Vincent have. But, obviously, saying that we might be living in a world where things aren’t going as well as they could, and offering possible solutions on how we might get back on track, in order to become better people and be more aware of all the living things around us, is an important part of our ethos. We just need to be a bit humbler and more attentive.

In your opinion, what does the music composed by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave bring to the film?
VM: That, right there, is the magic of cinema! In the same way that we were both moved and devastated by what we saw, we, in turn, want to provoke strong emotions. Primarily thanks to music, film allows us to share very personal feelings and to move people deeply. Because we’re all sensitive to this type of beauty; we need it. But somehow society has distanced us from it.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from French)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

See also

Privacy Policy