Into the Wildaccording to Thomas Salvador
In 2014, Thomas Salvador proposed “a French superhero film” with Vincent has no scales. A work that took up the codes of the genre, but not only. We followed a man who, behind his blatant banality, hides extraordinary abilities when he comes into contact with water. To represent his powers, the director used physical effects rather than special effects. Thus, the delicate romance that he staged between his character and that of Vimala Pons caused real wonder. He does it again with his second feature film, leaving a lake for a mountain. If he always offers himself the main role – of a calm and not very talkative man -, this time he looks at another element of nature.
Pierre, a Parisian engineer, goes in the Alps to introduce a new type of robotic machine. On the spot, his attention is lost towards this mountain. He then decides to tackle everything to discover this snowy expanse.
We think in particular in front of The mountain to this true story of Christopher McCandless who rejected a life all mapped out and decided to survey the great American spaces. A story told by Sean Penn in Into the Wild (2008). We find here this opposition with the modern world, since Pierre, once installed in his little tent, will refuse to come down from his mountain.
Between ecology and fantastic romance
His only contact with the living world will be, occasionally with other climbers, but especially with the chef of a station restaurant (Louise Bourgoin). It is the latter who will take care of doing some shopping for him to help him in his self-sufficiency. Because even for his survival and his health Pierre will remain determined not to go down again.
Thomas Salvador then embarks us in the middle of this pure nature, white immensity, from which the director manages to draw shots of great beauty. All he has to do is point his camera at these beautiful landscapes, during the day or at sunset, to produce a new form of wonder on the viewer. A nature that could unfortunately disappear with global warming as a nurse points out during a conversation. One sentence enough for Salvador to get the message across.
Thomas Salvador thus stages the reconstruction of a man througha trip in the middle of nature. But the filmmaker also uses for thisa fantastic part. At night, a strange red glow seems to wander in the mountain and Pierre will do everything to find out what this creature is. The film is then on the brink of falling into horror, evoking in particular Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott. But it will ultimately be a way for Thomas Salvador to push its union with nature to its climax. Pierre managing to become one with it, before being able to return to our world, imbued with serenity, a true rebirth.
The Mountain by Thomas Salvador, in theaters soon. The film was presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
