What a magnificent tree! It's worth building a movie around, though originally a novel. How could there not be a spirit within it's massive, convoluted limbs and roots clawing upwards from the hard packed earth? Jaded soul that I am, I wondered how much was prop and how much a natural poinciana tree. I tried not to let this thought distract me from the story. Peter O'Neill (Aden Young) died suddenly at the base of this very tree, and it only seems natural that his spirit be absorbed therein, where he can watch over his loving family, where he can converse with them and from which he can sometimes take action to keep them on path.
Peter leaves behind a wife, Dawn (Charlotte Galesburg) and four children who, each in his/her own way, grieve his passing and continues life without him as best they can. Daughter Simone climbs to the higher branches during the day to speak with her dad. Wife Dawn nestles among the exposed roots at night to rest peacefully with him. Over time and through many small and large ordeals, the family learns to adjust.
Throughout the film, almost unnoticed, are many foreshadowings of disaster, from Dad telling his daughter riding in the back of his pickup truck to, 'Keep your head down ,' to boys riding their bicycles across the road as the truck approaches, to Dawn swimming in deep water alone, except for a hugh man-of-war jelly fish wafting perilously close to her, as well as many more subtle and not-so-subtle triggers. The very branches of the tree seem to threaten the family home from above, while its serpentine roots seek out new territory to claim as its own. These almost subliminal suggestions keep the audience feeling uneasy and concerned. And this emotional backdrop adds to the magical and eerie quality of the film -- a talent developed by Australian filmmakers since 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1975).
This pensive, dream-like film takes its time and adjusts to nature's pace as Dawn slowly wakes from her deep, depressing sleep of grief. The children become more self-sufficient while awaiting her dark cycle's end, hoping no calamity befalls them in the meantime. Through her mourning, Gainsbourg's Dawn remains a loving mother. The children, all empathetic characters, deal with their new situation in unique ways -- from conversing with the family tree, to getting a job, to staying silent. 'The Tree' depicts a family's grief sympathetically, magically yet realistically drawn.
The Tree
Director: Julie Bertuccelli
Writer: Julie Bertuccelli, Elizabeth J. Mars from the novel, 'Our Father Who Are in the Tree,' by Judy Pascoe
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Morgana Davies, Marton Csokas, Christian Byers, Tom Russell, Gabriel Gotting, Aden Young
Time: 109 min.
Opening July 29 at a Landmark Theatre in San Francisco
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