THE Valley
(OBSCURED BY CLOUDS)

A picture about a plunge into the unknown, The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) sounds as if it will be a combo of The Lost World and Easy Rider, with a bit of Lost Horizon thrown in for good measure. What we get is instead an entirely believable trek into the forested highlands, where we constantly wonder how Schroeder and legendary cameraman Néstor Almendros were able to keep their cameras running and lenses clean, let alone avoid the defections of crew and actors.

The simple story has cosmopolitan taker Viviane slowly abandon all worldly concerns - her business, her husband, her life - and instead throw her lot in with a quintet of idealistic types who can only parenthetically be described as 'hippies'. Burly Gaetan has attracted his two female consorts (and a child) to his quest, but doesn't come off as a macho type. The closest the film comes to a standard scene is when Hermine explains to Viviane the difference between possessive sex and what the little group has found. A later intimate exchange (intriguingly on the end of a mastershot involving hundreds of natives) hits a more unique note. The disillusioned Olivier reminds Viviane, who is ecstatic about participating in the native rituals, that the culture she's celebrating is far less free than her own, living in fear, obsessed with taboos, and especially harsh on women.

National Geographic types will flip. The group meets only a handful of whites, mostly rough Australians with no time to waste with ethereal cereal types. Viviane keeps the expedition on track by giving a fortune in cash to a pair of highland pirates who initially refuse to sell their horses: "What horses? I don't see any fucking horses". The landscape they cover is clearly remote and wild, and every time they snuggle into the roots of a tree or play with a wild animal, we think how far up a creek they'd be if somebody got snake-bit.

The sex is basic, brief and unadorned with trippy effects of any kind. Viviane considers herself sufficiently free to bed down with the attractive Olivier. Later on she joins the fold by coupling with Gaetan at the base of really bizarre tree with huge hanging roots from which they drink an elixir-like liquid. The plant is obviously real, but comes off like some kind of sexually-hyped phallic Triffid.

Amid the sex, the wigging out on local drugs, and the somnambulent, creeping Pink Floyd music (surely a major draw for DVD buyers), is a balancing practicality. Gaetan and Co's quest for the forbidden valley of Paradise remains an idealistic rumor, almost an excuse to turn one's back on reality. But reality always has the upper hand. Tripping out with a green tree snake, Viviane gets what she's asking for, a nasty bite. Such little reminders are needed to quell the idea that anyone with a land rover can leap into the remote boondock areas and come back in one peace.

The interaction with the primitive tribe is pretty amazing. These are people with little inhibitions or self-consciousness by Western standards, and Schroeder gets great quantities of intimate footage of their interaction with the visitors that's remarkable in its lucidity.

Part of the interest in following The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) to its end is wondering how a story, even an Easy-Rider quest like this one, is going to resolve itself. The subject of this particular show is the journey itself, and the mysterious ending turns out to be eerily satisfying.

The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) was made by a stellar roster of talent. Bulle Ogier is a familiar face from many an artistic effort - Le Salamandre, Sérail, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Michael Gothard has a short but impressive filmograpy ( The Three Musketeers, Scream and Scream Again, The Devils, Lifeforce), and his name also shows up in a mysterious & legendary art film from 1967 called Herostratus that I'd love to get a look at. Jean-Pierre Kalfon (Birds in Peru, The Dogs of War) and Valérie Legrange (Satyricon) both played radicals in Jean-Luc Godard's Week End.

Ace screenwriter Paul Gégauff (The Cousins, Les Bonnes Femmes, The Beast Must Die, Purple Noon) apparently began with director Schroeder on an earlier, less acclaimed counterculture epic called More, also with music by Pink Floyd. Schroeder and cameraman Almendros took another adventure into danger a few years later, with their docu on the murderous dictator, General Idi Amin Dada.

Home Vision's handsome DVD has a mostly perfect, colorful enhanced picture, and perfectly clear sound - the highland rainforest pop out at us. Never fear, Pink Floyd's score is mono but undistorted. There's a bit of film damage a few minutes in, that HvE's cover text duly points out; it's only lasts a second. There's several moments in the film as sensual as the photo on the back of the package, but I didn't see that particular one ... one gets the clear idea that the filming trek into the unknown, was just as uninhibited as what we see in the film.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: text essay
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: March 9, 2003