The Tree (2010)

• Year: 2010
• Released: 11 Aug 2010
• Country: France, Australia, Germany, Italy, United States
• Adwords: 1 win & 16 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1496005/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_tree
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-tree
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, French
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Runtime: 100 min
• Writer: Judy Pascoe, Julie Bertuccelli, Elizabeth J. Mars
• Director: Julie Bertuccelli
• Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Morgan Davies, Marton Csokas
• Keywords: woman director, beach, rural area, single mother, grief,

	6.5/10
	58/100

The Tree Storyline

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…

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The Tree Movie Reviews

slow, meandering, dreamy

Peter O’Neil dies suddenly in front of his family. His wife Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is devastated and she’s left with four kids to care for in the outbacks of Australia. The girl Simone starts talking to the giant tree next to their home. Its roots are getting into the pipe and a giant branch crashes into the home. She gets a job at the plumbing supply store and starts a relationship with owner George. Her neighbors want her to cut down the tree before the roots get into their pipes. Simone defends the tree against George claiming to hear her father.

This is a slower, meandering story like a tree slowly strangling the house. It has a dreamy feel. Some of it looks beautiful but some of it gently rocks the audience to sleep. It has some appeal but mostly, it’s a low intensity tale. The neighbors could have given more tension. In the end, the storm is a convenient way to blow all the story branches away.

Australian nature

An old rule about the supernatural in movies is that they have to be scary. If they’re not, there’s always a risk the audience gets sleepy or even laughs at the wrong sensitive moments.

That’s however not really the problem here. A family father dies from a heart attack, but his spirit moves into a tree, standing in the yard. His daughter can still speak to him and so can his widow, as usual a good performance from Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The conflict arises when the widow finds a new man. That would have been more interesting, if the tree was left out and we instead could follow the jealousy and feelings of betrayal from her children. This is not bad, but the focus is maybe on wrong things.

Good movies don’t make much noise

Story of the ‘The Tree’ takes place in the country side of Australia. It’s plot around Dawn O’Neil who is a mother of 4 children struggling to recover with the unexpected loss of her husband. When the father die the happiness of the family seems to ran far away and Dawn for months tries to understand the reality and put everything back together for her kids. But the youngest 8 year old daughter Simone fails to adapt to the situation and starts to believe that her father speaks to her via the big old tree in their garden. And when this tree becomes too unstable and threatens the house and the family Dawn has to decide if to chop the tree down amidst her daughter’s objection.

The Tree has a good flow. It’s filled with little events which defines the O’Neil family and how they try to cope up with the loss of their father and the protection and income. Alongside the main attention is given towards the giant tree which holds a significant value in the family and its history. Soon the viewer starts to feel like the tree is actually a family member which keeps the family in bound to each other. And it does it for good reasons.

Dawn’s character is a strong one. And Charlotte Gainsbourge portrays it quite skillfully. And the performance by the little Morgana Davies who plays the sweet yet stubborn Simone does a wonderful job as well. Overall the acting in the movies is quite raw and closer to reality. Thus brings viewer in to more realism with the whole situation.

The Tree most of the time is a quite movie. With little score and few lines in between it will put the viewer in to the middle of a lonely place. But don’t let that loneliness to gulp you down. Because good movies don’t make much noise.

My reviews at flickshout.tk