Whispers in the Woods (Le Chant des Forêts)
Director – Vincent Munier – 2025 – France – Cert. U – 95m
*****
Grandfather, father and son settle into the woods to watch the wildlife, and possibly catch a glimpse of a rare bird – out in UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, November 13th
Woods. Mist slowly rising. For what seems like an eternity. You are watching, waiting. This sets you up for what is to follow.
In many shots, the pin-sharp images capture foreground vegetation while animal or bird life moves tantalisingly in the soft or out of focus distance. And yet, that’s what transfixes you as you watch. You have to be patient, but are rewarded intermittently with footage of birds, owls, deer, lynxes and more.
The setting is the dense and isolated forests of the Vosges region of France.
Intercut with all this are the activities of three generations of the wildlife-observing Munier family: grandfather Michel, father Vincent and 12-year old Simon, as they construct hides to watch the fauna, walk around snowbound vistas all night to view wildlife that has accepted them, or camp out overnight in sleeping bags. Vincent, the film’s director, is the award-winning wildlife photographer who previously made The Velvet Queen (2021).
The Muniers have a house in the woods too, an orange square window which glows at night as smoke exits almost imperceptibly from the chimney.
Their pertinent spoken observations are one of the elements that makes up the sound track, juxtaposed with some extraordinary wildlife sound effects, and evocative music by Warren Ellis, Dom La Nena, and Rosemary Standley.
The whole thing unfolds at a commendably slow pace. Which is perhaps what you would expect for a piece about sitting quietly in a hide or blending yourself into the landscape in order to observe its wildlife at close quarters without it being aware that you are even there.
All this seems to fit perfectly with the process of watching a film. You sit in a dark space and experience sounds and images.
The three central human characters with their viewing goal provides our perfect way into all this and gives the film its momentum. (‘Momentum’ is a strange word to use, as it implies hurtling speed, whereas the pacing here is exactly the opposite. Nevertheless, it lends the piece a sort of slow equivalent of momentum.) Specifically, the grandfather’s remembered sighting of a rare bird, the capercaillie, which he would like his grandson to see.
Much of the colour cinematography feels like black and white. Things like flesh tones give away the fact that it’s actually colour. There’s a very specific palette here, though, very subtle, in places almost monochrome.
All in all, to have a house in the woods and to go out into those woods to observe wildlife is a singular experience. This film perfectly captures that experience, noting that while it may be admirable to sight a rarity such as a capercaillie, it might be just as satisfying to spot and observe something much more common, that’s already sitting right in front of you, such as a wren.
Whispers in the Woods is out in cinemas in the UK and Ireland cinemas on Friday, November 13th 2026.
Trailer: