Vlissingen 2026 Review: WHISPERS IN THE WOODS Stuns With Visual Poetry

During the opening titles of Vincent Munier's new documentary, you watch a forest, for minutes, with trees slowly emerging from the fog, while Hildur Guðnadóttir's Fólk Fær Andlit music plays. Seen on the big screen it's a jawdropper of a shot, and a meditative moment which is a feast for your senses. Many will follow.

Vincent Munier is an award-winning nature photographer and filmmaker, and for this title he spent a winter in the French Vosges mountain forests. Not alone, mind you: he brought his father (also a renowned nature photographer) and his 13-year-old son with him. The end result is this film, Whispers in the Woods, which is about love of nature, of patience, of incredible dedication for getting the right shot. In a small mountain cabin, the three recount their encounters with animals, and often they venture out to catch a glimpse or shoot some fantastic footage. And indeed, not to chase away any animals, they whisper.

If this sounds boring, it isn't. Munier films each encounter as if Jurassic Park's T-Rex approaches, foreshadowing and all. Shots focus on spider webs, on pollen, on a tiny bug, while out of focus in the background you see something immense appear, a million times larger. Is it a deer? A bobcat? This film may be the purest form of 'creature feature' there is. Munier has won many awards for his work and it's easy to see why: this may be one of the best edited and scored films I have seen in years. It is beyond reproach on a technical level, and mindbogglingly gorgeous to watch.

The film carries a strong message for conserving what is left of nature, and rightfully so as the main animal they chase became extinct in France two years ago, after having lived in the Vosges as a species for over 10,000 years. While that is a sad note, the film celebrates as well what is still there, and it does not become too preachy. Munier's son is obviously shown to become a nature lover just like his dad and granddad, but we also see him playing around on his smartphone and reading a One Piece graphic novel, linking the generations without judgement.

Vlissingen's Film by the Sea Festival showed the film on one of the largest screens they had, and I was thankful for it. Because Whispers in the Woods looks and sounds even better when you're enveloped by it. It was a huge box office success in its home country and won two Cesars, the French Oscar. I loved it.