A Bigger World

Based on true facts ,this movie is definitely off the beaten track.Its's about Shamanism a shaman is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance,for healing ; some kind of equivalent of our seances in the dark ,but,should we believe the final lines, it 's taken more seriously than spiritualism.

Corine cannot come to terms with the loss of her husband ; her colleague sends her to Mongolia to film and record new sounds ; there they discover she's a female shaman ,with magic powers which might make her contact spirits of the dead .

The Mongolian landscapes are a splendor ,Cecile de France is efficient ,but directing is rather flat and sometimes one stifles a yawning ;my feelings are mixed : the great scene which fulfills the "we'll meet again " promise reminds one of too many hollywoodian movies clichés .

The adventures of this "bourgeois bohème" woman (who can afford the price of such a trip after losing a dear one?or be sent on a mission by his/her boss?) will only convince people open to persuasion ,but the others will be sceptikal about it ,at least as much as about the seances in the dark.

Forget the scientists ,the shrink who wants to fill the "depressed" woman with pills , the ridiculous sister ,and you can appreciate the documentary side of the movie .Filmed on location , one can praise the depiction of these faraway places where there's no electricity ,no running water ("no shower" says the interpret) and where religious belief is intense ;it's really a wider world ,and any viewer can be in awe of it ,even though he cannot get into the spiritual one.