Altitudes

For those who love the mountains this is an invaluable film of natural beauty and splendour, as the frame of a great human drama. Isabelle is a mature professional mountaineer, who has collected many prizes during her career as a mountain climber, and who now returns to her homestead to be present at her father's funeral, who was also a legendary mountaineer which overwhelms her with memories. She has a sister Kenza who is also a climber, and they agree on fulfilling together their father's last great ambition to climb the impossible north face of a very challenging mountain of about 4400 meters and chart a path of how to get at it. But Isabelle suffers from a mortal wasting disease, she might not live very long, nevertheless her will is imperative, and when her relatives try to stop her she goes for it alone. Her sister and Antoine, a close friend of the family, professional mountain climber and former lover, realize the dangerous hazard of the effort and start climbing up after her. I will not commit any spoiler, but Isabelle actually fulfills her and her father's ultimate ambition and spread her father's ashes from the top. There is much more to it than this, but the ending is actually serenely happy in spite opf all.