''The Velvet Queen'' (french: La Panthère des neiges, lit=The Snow Panther) is a 2021 French-language

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

. It follows

Sylvain Tesson Sylvain Tesson (born 26 April 1972) is a French writer and traveller born in Paris. He has engaged in a number of unusual travels and expeditions which are the basis for his books. Among his most successful works are '' The Consolations of the F ...

and

Vincent Munier Vincent Munier (born 14 April 1976) is a French wildlife photographer and documentary filmmaker. Among his most notable works are his photographs of arctic wolves and snow leopards. He co-directed a film about snow leopards, ' (2021), which recei ...

as they attempt to find a

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia''), also known as the ounce, is a Felidae, felid in the genus ''Panthera'' native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. The film was directed by and Munier in their feature-length debut, and premiered in the Cinema for the Climate section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 13 July 2021, with a wider theatrical release in France on 15 December and a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on 22 December. It won Best Documentary Film at the

47th César Awards The 47th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, took place on 25 February 2022 honouring the best French films of 2021. Screenwriter and director Danièle Thompson presided the ceremony that was host ...

, and Best Documentary at the

27th Lumières Awards The 27th Lumières Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Lumières, took place on 17 January 2022 to honour the best in French-speaking cinema of 2021. The ceremony was hosted by Laurie Cholewa for the fourth time. Drama film ''Happen ...

Synopsis

"In the heart of the

an highlands, multi-award-winning nature photographer

guides writer

on his quest to document the infamously elusive

. Munier introduces Tesson to the subtle art of waiting from a blind spot, tracking animals, and finding the patience to catch sight of the beasts. Through their journey in the Tibetan peaks, inhabited by invisible presences, the two men ponder humankind's place amongst the magnificent creatures and glorious landscapes they encounter along the way".

Release

The film had its world premiere in the Cinema for the Climate section at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on 13 July 2021. It had a wider theatrical release in France on 15 December and a

in USA by

Oscilloscope Pictures Oscilloscope Laboratories is an independent film company and distributor founded by Adam Yauch and former TH!NKFilm executive David Fenkel. It also has a recording studio and film production facilities. Fenkel returned to the company on May 4, 2 ...

on 22 December. It was released on VOD by Oscilloscope Video on 24 January 2023.

Reception

Box office

''The Velvet Queen'' grossed $151,006 in North America, and $5.6 million in other territories.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 46 reviews and an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its narration might not be distracting for some, but ''The Velvet Queen'' more than makes up for it with some truly striking cinematography."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 78 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". Brian Tallerico of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

'' described the film as "a calming, meditative experience." Paul Byrnes of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "transcendently beautiful."

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdashers ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' also rated the film 4 out of 5, stating that "the film has a real writer whose style rises above the cliche into which nature documentary almost always descends."

Accolades

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was created by

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

and

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

, and released on 17 December 2021 by

Lakeshore Records Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...

. Siobhán Kane of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' rated the soundtrack 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "naturally wonderful". Lucy Harbron of '' Clash'' rated it 7/10, commenting that the soundtrack "feels like an essential part of the Nick Cave and Warren Ellis discography."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velvet Queen, The 2021 films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films 2021 documentary films 2021 directorial debut films Films shot in Tibet French documentary films Works by Sylvain Tesson Films about big cats French-language documentary films