Directed by
Julie Bertuccelli
100 minutes
Rated M
Reviewed by
Emma Flanagan
The Tree
Synopsis: 8 year old Simone (Morgana Davies) has an idyllic life in country Queensland with her three siblings and parents. When her father dies suddenly, Simone copes by imagining that her late father speaks to her through the leaves of the giant tree next to their home. This secret she shares only with her mother, Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Trouble arises when the tree’s roots block the house’s pipes, and Dawn begins a relationship with the plumber George (Marton Csokas), who is called in to fix the problem. As the tree’s threat to the house and the family increases, a decision has to be made, but what will be the fallout?It is great to see an eight year old girl who doesn’t squeal when she sees a fly and who delights in climbing trees and following ants. The occupational health and safety-obsessed city is far away from this slice of rural life, where kids ride their bikes on the dirt roads and get lifts in the back of the ute.
The Tree, written and directed by Julie Bertuccelli, based on a book by Judy Pascoe, is a modest film about grief and moving on, figuratively and literally. It opens with sounds, those of a country night far away from the madding crowd; frogs croak softly and insects buzz, while a couple speaks quietly as they lie in a hammock on their verandah. Nigel Bluck’s cinematography shows a place that is apparently peaceful but which conceals hidden dangers.
The Tree is a French-Australian co-production and Charlotte Gainsbourg convinces as a carefree French expat in her mid-thirties who has discovered peace since finding her Australian husband and settling Downunder over a decade earlier. There are hints of her shiftless, perhaps more educated past, but Dawn is a woman whose focus is very much on the present. Morgana Davies is a cutie and does a fine job as the sensitive girl who can also be a complete brat with an infuriating stubborn streak. She is, unwittingly, evidence for the problems of blended families.
Marton Csokas also convinces as the man who is handy with a spanner and who may be the right man for Dawn. But I wanted to know more about him. There were hints of his family and children, but not enough to explain why Dawn would even consider letting such a great guy go. In supporting roles, Penne Hackforth-Jones provides an amusing turn as the nosy & narrow-minded next-door neighbour, while good work is also done by Christian Byers as Simone’s brother Tim and Aden Young as Simone’s dad, Peter
The art and VFX departments have done an excellent job on this film. I don’t know if they found an old house to trash, or whether it was built for the task but it must have been a helluva lot of fun on set.
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