The Velvet Queen (2021)

I was actually quite disappointed with this. Sylvain Tesson and Vincent Munier spent a great deal of time on the Tibetan plateau and what they have filmed is pretty spectacular, but what they have presented us with here is really nothing at all special. The chronology is all over the shop; we jump from season to season with a rather light narrative that doesn't flow particularly well. The photography is something we have seen quite often before, and though there is a touch of excitement as we try to track down the star of the show, the film has an inevitability to it that I found quite underwhelming - coupled with a dialogue that was equally rambling and though naturally conversational, pretty uninformative. I also felt that the way they were photographed by an unseen crew, offering us pristine images as they snuggled down using the rock face for camouflage offered something quite sterile too. It's a must for wildlife fans who appreciate these wonderful creatures in their remote and frequently hostile natural habitats, but as a cinema feature I think it is just about ok.