‘The Eight Mountains’ chronicles four decades of a profound friendship

Directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch visualize four decades of a profound relationship between two men, one from Turin and the other from an Alpine village. Set primarily in the Italian Alps, the beautiful environment isolates Pietro and Bruno, rendering their multifaceted collaboration of work and leisure a concentrated study of the friendship between them.

Adapted from Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 semiautobiographical novel, the story begins as the boys meet, Pietro on vacation with his family in Bruno’s small village. As adults, Luca Marinelli’s Pietro and Alessandro Borghi’s Bruno reconnect after emotional separations from their fathers. Only brief visits to Nepal interrupt the core Alpine location. A perfectly measured, unhurried pace quietly delivers consequential events devoid of distracting flourishes. Suggestion and understatement communicate much more than explicit exposition or unnecessary dialogue. And yet Pietro and Bruno’s friendship is a full-bodied one of complex, satisfying emotional connections.

Ruben Impens’ cinematography lights and composes to both reveal and obscure as required. And Daniel Norgen’s music, woven throughout the film, adds a third voice as evocative as it is haunting. Metaphors abound, notably building versus repairing a house/a friendship, nature versus the city Turin, and the small tree strong where it unexpectedly sprouted but struggling when transplanted. Adding philosophical context, the title, explained in the film, questions whether the life climbing the eight highest mountains yields more than devotion to one.

In press notes, the directors state accurately their intent. “We wanted to make an epic film consisting of small gestures – an ode to the fragility and strength of every living being, whether human, animal, plant, or mountain. And we wanted it to contain no trace of cynicism.” Exactly this lack of any distracting, disparaging attitudes recommends “The Eight Mountains” as a deeply moving, memorable experience. Co-director Vandermeersch says she hopes the film leads viewers to reflect on their lives and ask, “What kind of friend am I?” This is an important question sincerely prompted after the experience “The Eight Mountains” conveys. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, in Italian with English subtitles, “The Eight Mountains” screens at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.