Le Quattro Volte

"Reinvents the very act of perception. Its view of nature is among the most profound, expansive, and unsettling I have ever encountered on film."—A. O. Scott, New York Times

Filmed in a peaceful village in an Italian mountainous region, Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times) is one of the year's most wondrous and beautiful films. The title refers to an ancient belief that a soul passes through four stages—human, animal, vegetable, and mineral. Conjuring both the eternal and the mundane, the film captures a mysterious journey that includes engrossing documentary-minded footage of a shepherd's daily routines and miraculously choreographed scenes of perhaps the best canine performance in cinema historyand culminates in more abstract expressions of austere transcendence. (88 mins., 35mm)