Vicky and Her Mystery (2021) Review: A Heartfelt Tale of Nature and Human Beings

Vicky and her Mystery, or Mystère, is a French drama movie directed by Denis Imbert. It has a runtime of 1 hour and 24 minutes. The cinematography is by Fabrizio Fontemaggi and the film is written by Rémi Sappe, Denis Imbert, Mathieu Oullion and Stéphanie Vasseur. The synopsis of the film on Netflix reads, “After her mom’s death, a heartbroken girl and her dad settle in a wild, beautiful Cantal. Can a special creature help her heal? Inspired by a true story.” The film stars Vincent Elbaz, Marie Gillain, Shanna Keil, Eric Elmosnino, Tchéky Karyo and others in various roles. 

Vicky and her Mystery narrates the heart wrenching story of how a little girl, who has stopped talking after being traumatized by her mother’s death, finds solace in a puppy that she finds in the forest. Victoria does not in fact realize that the puppy that she has found in the forest and has secretly decided to keep is in fact a wolf cub. The movie is directed by Denis Imbert who has masterpieces like the 2003 Taxi 3 and 2015’s Vicky and Parisienne under his hat. The wonderful cinematography gives the film a sad yet hopeful undertone that stays with the viewer throughout.

– Vicky and Her Mystery Review does not contain any spoilers –

Victoria is intrigued by the forest. She doesn’t speak but she relates with nature on a spiritual level that is apparent by any viewer. While taking a walk in this forest, an unknown shepherd gives Victoria a puppy called Mystery. Mystery does wonders and gives Victoria a taste of life again. She stops being a shadow and starts living her life, almost resembling the young girl that she is supposed to be. Stephane, Victoria’s father, is trying his level best to reconnect with her daughter but is not quite pleased after realising that Victoria is secretly looking after Mystery. 

Things take a turn when Stephane realizes that Mystery is in fact a wolf. On one hand Stephane realizes that looking after a wolf has its own set of problems but on the other hand he cannot deny the role that Mystery has played in bringing his daughter back into his life. Vicky and Her Mystery is available with a variety of audio and subtitle languages.

The audio options include the original French audio as well as English, Spanish, Portuguese and Turkish. The interesting thing to note is the fact that the wolves used in the film are not CGI generated. The connection depicted in the film, which the director thought was imperative to the film, cannot be done with CGI.

Vicky and her Mystery is in fact a partially true story. The film first started being discussed during a conversation between the director and co-screenwriter Denis Imbert and one of the film producers, Fabrice Denizot. Denizot then informed Imbert about a similar story where a father discovered that her daughter had brought in a wolf-pup thinking it was a puppy. The wolf-pup’s name in the original story was Mystere or Mystery and the duo decided to honor this story by naming their own film Vicky and Her Mystery. Not only actress Shanna Keil who played Vicky, but the cast and crew of Vicky and Her Mystery had to undergo training in order to incorporate the real wolves in the film.

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Summing up, Vicky and Her Mystery

Vicky and Her Mystery strikes a primitive cord in the hearts of every human being: the bond between nature and human beings and the undeniable role that nature has played in healing humans since time infinity. If you want to partake in some pre-Christmas emotional watch, do give this film a watch. We promise you would not be disappointed. 

Vicky and Her Mystery is now streaming on Netflix.

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