The Mountain

La Montagne

63rd TIFF: Greek Premiere

In this clever, minimalist, poetic, mystical, and at times delirious story of thoughtful escapism, an engineer who works in an unsurprising corporate environment, demonstrating robotic technologies to equally disinterested clients, decides to change his life in a single moment, during a work trip in the Alps. Irresistibly attracted by the view from his window, he camps out alone high in the mountains and leaves behind his previous life. Up there he meets Léa, a chef of an alpine restaurant, while mysterious glows glitter in the deep mountains… Actor-director Thomas Salvador (who has always dreamt of becoming a mountain guide) gives a tour-de-force performance in this astonishing work, even though the real protagonist is the frozen, imposing landscape of Mont Blanc. Following a barebone, straightforward narrative structure, the journey of a man who turns his back to society to meet a different world has a delicate love story nestling at the heart of the film but also features one of the most delightfully unexpected plot – and mood – twists in the recent history of cinema. A highly timid film, reaching immense depths of ambition.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.


Direction: Thomas Salvador
Script: Thomas Salvador, Naila Guiguet
Cinematography: Alexis Kavyrchine
Editing: Mathilde Muyard
Sound: Yolande Decarsin, Benoit Hillebrant, Olivier Dô Hùu
Music: Chloé Thevenin
Actors: Thomas Salvador, Louise Bourgoin, Martine Chevallier, Laurent Poitrenaux, Andranic Manet, Sylvain Frendo
Production: Christmas In July
Producers: Julie Salvador
Co-production: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Costumes: Dorothée Guiraud
Make Up: Aurélie Cerveau
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: France
Production Year: 2022
Duration: 115΄
Contact: Le Pacte
Awards/Distinctions: SACD Award (Directors’ Fortnight) – Cannes Film Festival 2022

Thomas Salvador

Thomas Salvador is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and actor in his own films. He has directed 6 short films that have been selected and awarded in numerous festivals, including Petits Pas (Cannes Directors’ Fortnight) and De Sortie (Jean Vigo Prize 2006). Hosted at the Villa Medici in Rome, he wrote his first feature film Vincent, released in 2015 and selected in more than forty festivals in France and abroad. The Mountain is his second feature film.

Filmography

2000 Une rue dans sa longueur (short)
2001 Here That Day (short)
2004 Dans la voie, portrait d’ un guide au travail (short doc)
2005 De sortie (short)
2009 Rome (short)
2015 Vincent
2022 The Mountain