And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?---Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky ---Notes from Underground Even now, so many years later, all this is somehow a very evil memory. I have many evil memories now, but ... hadn’t I better end my “Notes” here? I believe I made a mistake in beginning to write them, anyway I have felt ashamed all the time I’ve been writing this story; so it’s hardly literature so much as a corrective punishment. Why, to tell long stories, showing how I have spoiled my life through morally rotting in my corner, through lack of fitting environment, through divorce from real life, and rankling spite in my underground world, would certainly not be interesting; a novel needs a hero, and all the traits for an anti-hero are expressly gathered together here, and what matters most, it all produces an unpleasant impression, for we are...
Hope
To be human is to be a miracle of evolution conscious of its own miraculousness — a consciousness beautiful and bittersweet, for we have paid for it with a parallel awareness not only of our fundamental improbability but of our staggering fragility, of how physiologically precarious our survival is and how psychologically vulnerable our sanity. To make that awareness bearable, we have evolved a singular faculty that might just be the crowning miracle of our consciousness: hope.--
Erich Fromm
Invada Records and Lakeshore Records are set to release the original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to the forthcoming film La Panthère Des Neiges digitally 17 December. The soundtrack is one of Ellis and Cave’s most heartfelt and haunting film projects. Lakeshore Records will release the album digitally in the Americas and Invada Records in the rest of the world. A first single, the track “We Are Not Alone,” (an edit not found on the album), is out now
In the heart of the Tibetan highlands, photographer Vincent Munier brings writer Sylvain Tesson on his quest to find the snow leopard. He introduces him to the subtle art of waiting from a blind spot, tracking animals and finding the patience to catch sight of the beasts. Through their journey in the Tibetan peaks, inhabited by invisible presences, the two men engage in a conversation on our place among the living beings and celebrate the beauty of the world.
La Panthère des neiges (The Velvet Queen, 2021) is a acclaimed French nature documentary directed by Marie Amiguet and co-directed by wildlife photographer Vincent Munier.
Overview
Premise: Renowned French wildlife photographer Vincent Munier guides travel writer Sylvain Tesson through the high, frozen valleys of the Tibetan Plateau. Their primary objective is to track, stalk, and glimpse one of the earth's most elusive big cats: the snow leopard.
Themes: Beyond traditional wildlife filming, the documentary functions as a meditation on patience, human hubris, and the art of observation. It contrasts modern society's demand for instant gratification with the quiet stillness required to coexist with nature.
Score: Features an original soundtrack composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, providing an atmospheric, minimalist backdrop to the stark Himalayan landscapes.
Accolades: Premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and won the César Award for Best Documentary Film in 2022
Person
Role
Contribution
Vincent Munier
Co-director & Photographer
Master tracker who guides the expedition with a reverence for wild silence and low-impact observation.
Sylvain Tesson
Writer & On-screen Subject
Author of the companion book La Panthère des neiges; brings philosophical reflections and literary commentary.
Marie Amiguet
Director & Cinematographer
Operates the camera behind the scenes, capturing the dynamic between the two men alongside the vast landscape.
Visual Language & Cinematography
Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier deliberately reject the fast-paced, high-drama conventions of traditional natural history television in favor of an immersive, patient visual approach.
Extreme Long Focal Lengths: The film relies heavily on telephoto lenses shot from extreme distances. This aesthetic choice preserves the natural behavior of the wildlife and keeps the humans unobtrusive, framing subjects like Tibetan foxes, wild yaks, and manuls as subtle elements within an expansive, unforgiving landscape.
The "Invisible" Subject: A central visual device is the camouflage of the snow leopard. Frame after frame presents seemingly empty rock faces and snow drifts before revealing a hidden predator that was present all along, visually reinforcing the film's philosophical stance on human blindness to the natural world.
Observational Stillness: Camera movements are slow, locked down, or gently panning. Long, unedited takes allow the natural audio environment—wind, crunching snow, birdsong—to hold equal weight with the imagery.
Music & Sound Design (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)
The score marks a continuing evolution of the collaborative soundtrack work between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, known for their minimalist, emotionally resonant film compositions (The Road, The Assassination of Jesse James).
Warren Ellis (born February 14, 1965, in Ballarat, Australia) is an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, composer, and a prominent figure in the contemporary alternative music scene. He is widely recognized for his versatility and his deep, long-standing creative partnerships.
Key Musical Contributions
Dirty Three: Ellis co-founded the instrumental rock trio Dirty Three in 1992 with guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White. The band is celebrated for their emotive, improvised sound, blending post-rock with folk and classical influences.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Ellis joined the band in the mid-1990s (first contributing to the 1994 album Let Love In). He evolved into a core member, eventually becoming the band's musical director and a primary collaborator for Nick Cave.
Grinderman: He was a founding member of this side project of the Bad Seeds, which leaned into a raw, blues-punk aesthetic and released two influential albums between 2007 and 2010.
Collaborative Composition
Beyond his band work, Ellis has established himself as a prolific film composer, almost exclusively in partnership with Nick Cave. Their scores are noted for their atmospheric, ambient, and often haunting qualities. Some notable works include:
The Proposition (2005)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The Road (2009)
Hell or High Water (2016)
Back to Black (2024)
Instrumentation and Style
Classically trained as a violinist, Ellis is highly regarded for his ability to integrate unconventional sounds into rock music. He plays a wide array of instruments, including:
Primary: Violin, piano, and flute.
Additional: Bouzouki, tenor guitar, mandolin, mandocello, viola, accordion, and various electronic synthesizers and loops.
Personal Background
Early Life: Growing up in regional Victoria, Australia, Ellis discovered music partially by accident, famously finding a discarded piano accordion at a local rubbish dump as a child.
Professional Journey: Before his major breakthroughs, he spent time in his early twenties busking across Europe, an experience he credits as his first "truly communicative" musical interaction.
Other Projects: In 2021, he published the memoir Nina Simone's Gum, which chronicles his experiences and creative influences. He has also been the subject of the 2024 documentary Ellis Park, which focuses on his return to his roots in regional Victoria.
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis - "Push the Sky Away" | Live at Sydney Opera House
