The Tree
2010 · Directed by Julie Bertuccelli
Original language: English
- drama
The story
The O'Neills lived happily in their house in the Australian countryside. That was until one day fate struck blindly, taking the life of Peter, the father, leaving his grief-stricken wife Dawn alone with their four children. Among them, eight-year-old Simone denies this reality. She is persuaded that her father still lives in the giant fig tree growing near their house and speaks to her through its leaves. But the tree becomes more and more invasive and threatens the house. It must be felled. Of course, Simone won't allow it.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached Queensland light pours over a wide, humid countryside, with dusty red-brown earth, washed-out greens and a sky that turns bruise-dark when storms roll in. The camera stays mostly still and patient, letting ordinary kitchens, verandas and sun-struck paddocks hold their shape, while the enormous fig tree dominates the frame as a sprawling, almost living presence. The soundtrack is restrained: birdsong, insects, wind moving through leaves, and a gentle, sparse score that rises only when the house is threatened. The mood is wistful and quietly eerie, a warm melancholy shot through with a dreamlike, slightly uncanny magic realism. Pacing is unhurried, with long quiet stretches that suit a slow afternoon or a grey rainy evening. Emotionally it follows a grieving mother and her children learning to live with loss, with the sadness handled tenderly rather than melodramatically. Intensity is low: no graphic violence or gore, and the upset comes from grief, a child's denial and a looming storm, not from horror. For people who want an emotionally textured, gentle family drama with a strong sense of place and a touch of the fantastical.
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