An epic journey of friendship and self-discovery set in the breathtaking Italian Alps, “The Eight Mountains” — winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival — is a landmark cinematic experience as intimate as it is monumental, as deep as it is expansive.
Adapting the award-winning novel by Paolo Cognetti, directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch (The Broken Circle Breakdown) portray through observant detail and stunning landscape photography the profound, complex relationship between Pietro (Luca Marinelli) and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who first meet as children when Pietro’s Turin family vacations in an isolated village at the base of the Alpine slopes.
As they mature, Pietro becomes estranged from his business-minded father (Filippo Timi) even as Bruno — emotionally abandoned by his own father — takes up the role of surrogate son. Pietro’s father’s death reunites the two in realizing his dream of constructing a cabin on the Alps, and the project and subsequent explorations of the awe-inspiring mountain range bond Pietro and Bruno in a shared purpose. Yet despite their connection, the purity of nature and the demands of society both threaten to drive the men to pursue different, possibly irrevocably divergent paths on the vertiginous terrain of life.
“A gorgeous, glorious retreat.” — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
“This is a movie with air in its lungs and love in its heart. This film has mystery and passion. It climbs mountainous heights and rewards you with the opposite of vertigo: a sort of exaltation.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian