The Tree (2010)

Directed by: Julie Bertuccelli | 100 minutes | drama | Actors: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas, Morgana Davies, Aden Young, Gillian Jones, Penne Hackforht-Jones, Christian Bayes, Tom Russell, Gabriel Gotting, Zoe Boe

‘The Tree’ is a film shot in beautiful images in which grieving is central. In the strong opening images we see how father Peter O’Neill (Aden Young) tows a wooden house on a large truck to another village. The O’Neills are still a happy family, a little later we see daughter Simone sitting in the box of Pa’s pick-up. If she thinks he is playing a game by slowly driving towards the tree in front of their wooden house, the raw reality is different. Dad has had a heart attack behind the wheel and ends up softly against the beautiful tree in front of the house. That tree and Simone are central to the film story.

Mother Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg) collapses after death, neglecting her family and the home. The sensitive Simone becomes convinced that she still hears her father whispering to her through the tree and shares this secret with her mother, who after initial skepticism also becomes convinced that she can still have contact with her deceased husband. Dawn and Simone regularly crawl into the tree and this behavior raises suspicions among the neighbors.

The tree has thus become a kind of healing medium in the context of mourning, but at the same time threatens the house of the family with its enormous root system. In addition, the tree itself is also in danger because the neighbors believe that it should be felled. When Dawn searches for a plumber to unclog the blocked water drain, she is – oh lucky coincidence – immediately offered a job from him.

However, Plumber George (Marton Csokas) not only becomes her employer, but they gradually start to like each other more and more. Daughter Simone finds these developments unacceptable, especially if George also becomes involved in an imminent felling of this tree. Everything in her resists these developments and she resists inventively and with verve.

Morgana Davies plays the role of the girl Simone convincingly and plays natural. Her belief in communicating with her father through the tree is strongly portrayed. Blonde, small and vulnerable as she is, she looks heartwarming. The input of the other children in the family is also credible, the way in which they process the grief and try to survive during the time when their mother actually lets the family down is well portrayed. On the other hand, Charlotte Gainsbourg hardly plays convincingly and seems to be cast incorrectly here. Could this woman have lived in the raw Australian outback for so many years? The storyline has the necessary clichés, such as the role of the neighbor and the plumber/employer who comes to carry out repair work on the house. It does the already not so deep storyline little good that the developments (and the ending) are quite predictable. Developments are rippling along, whereby this potentially beautiful psychological drama could have had a ‘firmer’ effect.

Cinematically it is technically fine, the sounds of birds and other animals fascinating, the Australian wildlife images are magnificent and the tree itself is magnificent. The story lags behind, so it doesn’t really stick. ‘The Tree’ is especially enjoyable to watch if you appreciate sentimentality and melodrama in combination with beautiful landscapes and pictures of the outback.