Film Review
The uniquely harrowing trauma of family bereavement was something that
French film director Julie Bertucelli dealt with sensitively in her
acclaimed debut feature
Depuis qu'Otar est parti (2003)
and, seven years on, it provides the subject of her second film,
The Tree (a.k.a.
L'Arbre). The film is based
on the novel
Our Father Who Art in
the Tree by Australian writer Judy Pascoe, and is a
co-production between France and Australia. Filmed in the
small Australian town of Boonah in south-eastern Queensland,
The Tree capitalises on its
stunning location, almost to the extent that it very nearly loses sight
of what it is about. Nigel Bluck's photography may be
breathtakingly beautiful, evoking the raw power of the Australian
landscape with images that can hardly fail to carry us away on a wave
of transcendent delight, but you sometimes have to stop and ask
yourself whether you are watching a film drama or a nature documentary.
The Tree is an engaging piece
of cinema but for those who care to look beyond its seductive surface
gloss its shortcomings are all too evident. Many of the
film's failings stem from the novel on which it is based, which is
riven with the clichés on grief, New Age mysticism and
dysfunctional families that presently abound in Australian literature
and cinema. Characters are poorly developed and have a tendency
to behave and speak in a way that, in real life, would result in
ostracisation, alienation or a one-way ticket to the funny
farm. As the little girl Simone who is at the heart of the
story, Morgana Davies has a captivating screen presence and has no
trouble stealing our hearts with her very credible performance, but her
character is simply too self-aware and prone to adult introspection to
be remotely convincing as an ordinary eight-year-old girl.
Similarly, whilst it is impossible to fault Charlotte Gainsbourg's
performance (and we all love her far too much even to try), her
character somehow manages to have less substance than something you may
find in one of the lesser Aussie soap operas. And these are the
main characters; the other dramatis
personae are so wishy-washy that you hardly notice them even when they
are standing in front of the camera.
It is a minor miracle that, in spite of its over-egged sentimentality,
self-conscious artistry and shallow characterisation (to name just
three of its failings),
The Tree
is a film which still manages to engage its audience and deliver an
involving cinema experience. We overlook its deficiencies
because, imperfect as it is, the film is sincerely meant and crafted
with genuine love. We may cringe at the crudeness of the visual
metaphors (can there be a cruder symbol for grief than a gigantic tree
with malignant roots?), but its evocation of the pain of bereavement
resonates with truth. Julie Bertucelli comes tantalisingly close
to melding realism and fantasy, the physical and the spiritual, into a
coherent and meaningful modern fable for us cynical adults. If only she had gone the
extra mile and made this an exclusively child's eye view of
bereavement, without the pointless digressions into soapland and nature
film,
The Tree might have
been a work of exceptional power, rather than one that is merely
engaging and pretty to look at. The film will doubtless do
wonders for the Australian tourist board, but not much for the reputation
of fig trees.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Having settled in Australia, Dawn and Peter live a happy life with
their four children, aged between 4 and 17, in the shade of a huge
Moreton Bay fig tree. Their idyllic existence is brutally
shattered one day when Peter has a fatal heart attack and drives his
car into the fig tree. Whilst Dawn tries to come to terms
with her loss, her daughter Simone is convinced that her father is
still alive, his spirit having passed into the tree. The little
girl listens attentively to every sound the tree makes, the rustling of
its leaves, the creaking of its branches, believing that her father is
trying to communicate with her. When the tree's roots begin to
invade the house, Dawn calls in a plumber and finally decides that it must be
cut down. Simone refuses to let this happen, knowing that if the
tree dies she will lose her father forever...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.