Les saisons, or “Seasons” as I like to call it, pits those who love images against those who love words. I find it hard to believe that three people were needed to “write” this documentary as the whole thing had fewer sentences than your average Dr. Seuss book. This talkie is essentially a nature film, the kind my generation grew up with when it was called “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” and you had to suffer through it to get to Disney on Sunday nights.
This is the story of a northern European forest over time. The seasons change and the forest changes. The commentary is almost entirely inferred – horses in a spring glade. Two biting fiercely at one another. Rite of passage? Coming of age? Mating ritual? I was guessing the latter, but without a horse whisperer in my aisle, who knew? The best scenes were all predatory – wolves on the hunt, man on the hunt. Some of the camera work is truly inspiring. The story is not. The basic premise, which doesn’t unfold itself until about an hour in, is that once there was a pristine forest where wolves hunted pigs. Now, there’s a city, field or groomed forest where man hunts wolves. I’m sure there was some message here of how man has killed nature and aren’t we worse for it? However, I couldn’t help wondering if man as the #1 predator was, in effect, any worse than wolves being on top. I see the wolf. It’s a cold-blooded killer. How is that better? No, really. How is that better? Please state your case.
The writer/directors of Las saisons are Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud. You might remember the Jacques Two-fold Society as the dudes behind Winged Migration, the documentary which dared ask, “if a bird doesn’t move, who will film it?” Now, of course, I have a new question: if you’re French and named “Jacques,” are you required to study nature? As with Winged Migration, I am more interested with how the film was shot rather than what it had to say. At one point, I swear they put a tiny GoPro on a beetle. In another scene, they seemed to capture a living room interior for the chipmunk family. They also managed to film wolves hunting down a series of animals, both too big for them and juuuuuuuuust right. How did they get those shots? Do you just film the warthog 24/7 and wait? “Ooooooo, maybe this is the day he’ll get eaten!” “Oui!” I mean, you had to have pushed that relationship a little, right? I dunno, find the wolf den maybe, then sprinkle a
bacon-bits trail to porcineland? You can’t just wait forever on the hopes that these predators will find and kill the solitary selected pig you’re shooting, can you?
Les saisons is a testimony to how much more involved a nature film is when there are predators involved. I’m not against what the film had to say, but that fact outlines both the strength and weakness of the argument – we like seeing wolves hunt. We like it more than watching a creature nest, that’s for sure. So, does it matter that it’s wolves? I suppose I liked the part where the wolves cornered a wild horse, isolating and separating the weakest of the herd. Of course, afterwards, there was nothing but standoff; the wolves were still too small even as a team to bring down the larger mammal. Is this why we prefer the wolves – because they might lose? I’m not sure I buy that argument. All I know is your picture is pretty, but rarely caught my attention and seemed repetitive and preachy when it did.
♪Film in the forest
Trees are all wired
Capturing offspring
These guys have sired
Do dododo dododo dododo dododo dodo
When I say “action,”
I know you don’t mind
Start chasing porky
Catch him from behind
Do dododo dododo dododo dododo dodo
They’re gaining some ground
They’re on the hunt and after food
Miked for their sound
Come straight from the pound
And they’re mugging like a wolf♫
Rated PG, 87 Minutes
D: Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud
W: Jacques Cluzaud, Stéphane Durand, Jacques Perrin
Genre: Oooooo, pretty pictures!
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Cinematographers
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Wordsmiths
♪ Parody inspired by “Hungry Like the Wolf”
