The kind of poster that makes me want to watch
the documentary film it's for! :)
Whispers in the Woods (France, 2025)
- Vincent Mournier, director, cinematographer (with Laurent Joffrion and Antoine Lavorel) and co-producer (with four others)
- Part of the HKIFF's Documentary Competition program
When I saw the poster for Whispers in the Woods, I got to thinking of Ildikó Enyedi's On Body and Soul (2017), a magical film with beautiful imagery involving a stag and a doe. Ironically, I viewed Vincent Mournier's documentary less than 24 hours after viewing Enyedi's latest offering and found myself comparing it very favorably against Silent Friend!
In fairness, Whispers in the Woods and Silent Friend are two very different works; not least since the former is a wildlife documentary and the latter a fictional work with flora as well as human characters. This being said, I must say that I found myself far more mesmerised by Mournier's work than Enyedi's and also came away with a far greater appreciation of the wonders of nature too.
A personal offering that has him both in front of and behind the camera as well as directing and co-producing, Whispers in the Woods shows three generations of his family -- celebrated wildlife photographer Vincent himself, his father, Michel, and his teen-aged son, Simon -- sharing their love of nature, particularly the creatures, great and small, that dwell in the verdant forests of the Vosges in France, and how to look and listen for these wild things.
At home out in the woods like the wildlife whose presence they very much appreciate catching precious sightings and sounds of, the Mourniers' respect for nature is a great contrast to such as the cruel shooters of elephants seen in Werner Herzog's Ghost Elephants (another nature documentary viewed at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival). Recalling Herzog's offering once more: the Mourniers' uncanny ability to track down the wildlife that captivate them seems comparable to that of the expert trackers enlisted to look for the elusive eponymous elephants of that set-in-Africa documentary.
One evening in their cabin in the woods, Simon asks his grandfather what's his favourite wildlife spotting he's made. Understandably, Michel has to pause to think before answering that it was when he a capercaillie spotted in the mist and appearing to him like a ghostly apparition. Later, when it is revealed that this member of the grouse tribe is now extinct in France, the (re)viewer realizes how rare and precious this sighting this was; hence it being more treasured than sublime sights such as a doe, its young and a stag tranquilly crossing a silver-tinged river are that the Mourniers share with the viewers of Whispers in the Woods.
Deciding that he would like his grandson to also have the experience of catching sight of a capercaillie, Simon decides to take Simon -- with Vincent going along too -- on a winter journey to Norway, where these non-migratory sedentary birds still are to be found. It is a measure of how much they value their nature experiences that they are prepared to journey that far away from home and spend time out in snowy cold conditions to glimpse these rare birds. And it is a measure of how successful the people behind Whispers in the Woods are at communicating how priceless such experiences are that it viewers will find it is perfectly understandable that the Mourniers would want to do so.
My rating for this film: 9.
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