New in the cinema – In “La montagne” the mountain calls and lures you down the wrong path – culture

A Parisian falls head over heels in love with nature at Mont Blanc, which literally makes the dropout glow.

At first there is nothing to indicate that Pierre will soon be giving up his job. In the first scenes we get to know the 40-year-old engineer as a committed and successful businessman. He traveled to Chamonix with his team to present a robot to customers.

But then the subliminally alienated person throws away everything he has worked for in no time at all: carried away by the nearby peaks, which he glimpses through the window during his lecture, he follows an inner voice. Almost overnight, he transforms from a functioning careerist into a nature-loving alpinist.

Without further ado, he calls in sick to set up a bivouac in the high mountains. Not just for a few days, but for several weeks. At least. At some point he writes his mother a postcard in which he wonders about himself: “I don’t know myself why I’m staying up here. But I’m fine.”

Between Pierre and Pierrot

For the signature, Pierre chooses what can be translated as “rock” or “rock” in German, the diminutive form: Pierrot. That’s the name of a famous, mute stage character in France: an endearingly romantic fool, to whom the god director Jean-Luc Godard once paid homage with “Pierrot le fou”.

All of this resonates in this crazy genre mix that Thomas Salvador heaves onto the screen as the taciturn main actor and mischievous director.

Because a classic dropout drama with documentary appeal is “La montagne” only at the very beginning. After that, the tricky film is likely to catch many on the wrong foot. Which will horrify some and excite others. Salvador’s rogue piece polarizes because it constantly sets new tracks and radically goes its own way.

A mountain is not a block

“You’re sick!”, Pierre’s brother attests the man intoxicated by heights after he refused to come back down to the valley. In fact, our hero’s health will always be an issue on his journey: is he just in love with the charming cook at the summit restaurant? Or is Pierre’s fall into a crevasse an indication of his suspected suicidality?

Legend:

Quiet pole in the restaurant on the summit: chef Léa (Louise Bourgoin).

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His nurse in the hospital, where Pierre is once flown in because of acute hypothermia, at least sheds some light on the matter. He fell primarily because of global warming: “When the ice melts, the rock crumbles and the mountain collapses.” Especially since a mountain is not a block, but a living structure that, with its many layers, is more like puff pastry.

Full of sparkling secrets

If that sounds too esoteric or too ecological, you should better keep your hands off “La montagne”. Because that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Or just the summit of a supposedly icy mountain, which will later turn out to be a sparking volcano.

Legend:

On the way to enlightenment? Pierre looks at his glowing hand in amazement.

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To reveal more would be a pity for all those who are not deterred by it. Just this much: “La montagne” is a boulder that enriches our cinema landscape.

This complex chunk can hardly be compared with well-known titles. If you want, you can imagine the highly romantic natural mysticism picture arc as “Le grand bleu” in the Alps. At the risk that your own imagination will lure you down the wrong path – as so often in this film.

Theatrical release: June 15, 2023