05/09/2026 - VENICE 2026: Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s beautifully lensed film accompanies a painting of a queen-to-be through war-torn lands

Spain, 1652: Velázquez paints a portrait of young Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain. A few weeks later, it reaches the court of Louis XIV, also still a child, thus sealing the union of the French and Spanish monarchies, and bringing peace in the wake of the still-raging Thirty Years’ War. This is the historical event that fuels Pauline Julier and Nicolas Chapoulier’s quiet and visually stunning Les Indes, which has just premiered in the Giornate degli Autori competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

In an age in which we shoot and circulate photos on a whim, the directors have stated that imagining the creation and transport of this painting, as well as its political significance, is what struck them as the powerful core of this, at first glance, rather small footnote in history. Young Spanish nobleman Alejandro (Théo Urtubey), a nephew of the cardinal’s, is the person chosen to transport the precious painting and a lock of hair to the court in France. His companions are two battle-hardened French soldiers (Raphaël Thiéry and Lazare Minoungou). The aftermath of the war is still palpable: people are starving, and the streets are unsafe. “I would go back to where you came from,” the guard at the border between the two countries recommends. “Forget countries,” is the advice to Alejandro from one of the guards. There are no deserters to be hanged. “Here, there are roads and their guards.”

While misery and death are lurking around every corner, Julier and Chapoulier don’t hold back from showcasing the breathtaking landscapes consisting of parched, rocky terrain, lush green forests, winding mountain paths and mysterious waters, which the three men traverse. It is a paradise steeped in conflict. A paradise that Alejandro does not notice, as his mind is elsewhere, focused on the colonies, on the undiscovered lands and on the great promise of prosperity. One was “proud to be the first one to forge a path,” goes a passage from a fictional book called Les Indes. It all comes back to the old colonial dream of subjecting nature and its inhabitants to Western civilisation. While the same nature keeps testing those on the road, it is trimmed back, kept under control and meticulously planned out in the court of Louis XIV and his mother, the queen regent. After all, for those in power, the world is their oyster. It is likely no coincidence that the directors chose the child version of a ruler who would later preside over the great expansion of the French colonial empire.

Julier and Chapoulier repeatedly offer exoticised drawings of the colonies as well as cartographic attempts to capture their vastness. The true fascination, however, springs from the townspeople, the thieves and the murderers that they meet along the way. Famine, revolts, wars and despair have left their mark on the place. “Down with the crown,” goes the passionate chant. But whenever someone unpacks the picture of the Infanta to gaze upon it, the significance of such a dangerous delivery becomes glaringly obvious. There is a good reason why the “savages” refuse civilisation and roads, the writer of Les Indes concludes after his first contact with the natives. After all, venturing out into the world only ever brings war and greed.

Les Indes was co-produced by Swiss outfit Alina Film and Spain’s Lastor Media, and is handled internationally by MoreThan Films.

Photogallery 05/09/2026: Venice 2026 - Les Indes

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Pauline Julier, Nicolas Chapoulier
© 2026 Isabeau de Gennaro for Cineuropa @iisadege