The Incredible Snow Woman Review: The Elusive Yeti

Sébastien Betbeder’s The Incredible Snow Woman is an intriguing tragicomedy that benefits from its director’s keen eye for visuals.

She’s someone who’s always wanted to explore and doesn’t mind being away from people most of the time, enjoying her own company and the wonders of nature. She is different, and thus, doesn’t seem to conform to the rules of society.

Nevertheless, after a brief prologue that takes place in medias res, we see that she returns to her home in the Jura mountains, in France, meeting her brother Basile (Philippe Katerine) after being hit on the head with a saucepan. It turns out she’s been fired from her job, being accused of harassment, gross misbehaviour and even a kidnapping attempt, and she’s also been left by the man she’s been with for more than eighteen years. She has nothing except for her family, and even though she seems to want to write about her adventures, she’s incapable of doing much of anything.

After all, it also turns out Coline is sick, and as she says at the beginning of The Incredible Snow Woman, she will die soon. But she doesn’t tell this to anyone; not to her brother, and certainly not to her ex-boyfriend, schoolteacher Christophe (Laurent Papot), or his teenage son. One of the film’s most cringe-inducing scenes actually involves Coline trying to give a presentation to Christoph’s class, which results in her projecting a couple of unsavoury photos by accident. After that, she tries to kiss him – it turns out she’s unusually horny due to her quitting her pills – and of course, he rejects her.

Because The Incredible Snow Woman is the kind of movie that delights in using irony to place its characters in uncomfortable situations, Coline eventually discovers that Christoph is married to a woman they both went to school with and that she used to bully. She apologises, but that’s not enough. She makes people in the village uncomfortable, because she doesn’t seem to belong there. And she tries – not very successfully – to bond with Christoph’s son, which allows Betbeder to include a bit of commentary related to Gen-Z’s apparent lack of faith in the world. At least she uses Greta Thunberg as a positive example of what kids her age could be doing.

Anyway, after a brief stint in jail, she decides to go visit her father’s cabin alongside Basile and her other brother, Lolo (Bastien Bouillon). And by the halfway point, we return to the film’s prologue and see Coline being rescued by two Inuits, Ole (Ole Eliassen) and Martika (Martin Jensen), who end up taking care of her. This allows her to reconsider her life and find a sense of purpose, realising what kind of freedom she’s looking for, but also the type of situation in which she’d like to be when she dies.

If it’s not already apparent, The Incredible Snow Woman is the kind of movie that combines humour with existential drama, presenting us with a depressive protagonist who, at forty-six years of age, is still looking for her place in the world. She could very well have been an irritating character, but Betbeder writes Coline in such a way that the viewer understands her, empathising with her problems and all the questions she ends up asking. Again, she is different and complicated, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but it’s through her connection to nature that the viewer understands where she comes from, and where she could end up.

Blanche Gardin gives an understated and realistic performance, turning Coline into a living, breathing character who, as portrayed by a lesser actor, could have ended up turning into a caricature. Even when Betbeder resorts to rather broad comedy, Gardin’s performance remains credible and subtle, which is particularly important considering the character is supposed to be dying. The supporting cast is all solid, but it’s through Coline’s point of view that we perceive the story, even if some of the narrative beats can be a little absurd.

I enjoyed The Incredible Snow Woman’s mix of comedy and tragedy; of the realistic and the ridiculous. In the end, it seems to be saying that, even in the face of death, it’s better to smile or laugh rather than cry, which is a laudable message. Through its strong performances, great visual style – cinematographer Pierre-Hubert Martin’s shots of Greenland’s glaciers are truly magnificent – and intriguing protagonist, The Incredible Snow Woman manages to feel as different as Coline, even if some of its more comedic moments seem to be saying “look at how quirky we are!” This is one story worth exploring.

The Incredible Snow Woman premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 17-22, 2025. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews!