El árbol

I would like to add information about this film some people might find interesting it was actually shot in different locations in Queensland.. Winton, which actually is in the outback roughly in the middle of QLD and Boonah and the Kalbar/Tarome area not far from Boonah in South East QLD (not really the outback) Winton is over 1,350 kms from Boonah despite the geographical differences in the locations they blend seamlessly together being from the area ( The view outside my window includes the giant Moreton Bay Fig now known as "The Tree") it is amazing to see how they made these entirely different locations look like the same place as for the film it's an interesting combination of fantasy and reality light on fantasy heavy on reality it is not supposed to provide the answers to questions that arise from the family's situation it avoids, or attempts to avoid depictions of various characters reactions that are cliche even if that is to the detriment of the character or film nor does it have a neat and tidy ending that resolves all their issues and sets a clear path for the future that would seem more unreal, it is the unknown in that regard that is slightly haunting. It wasn't perfect in the acting department and was a little overlong but it had just enough puff to get me to the end. I wouldn't say the story and much of the film was enjoyable it's not that kind of film it was more like looking through a window into other peoples misfortunes and you feel lucky that that isn't you..the funny part was the frogs in the toilet and that does actually happen out here in the sticks sometimes that is not so funny.

The universal theme of suffering after the abrupt death of a dear one, with the necessity for those who remain to go on with life, is here presented in a very serene way. No melodrama, no anxiety, no exaggeration in sensitivity, but solid realism, with a touch of the magic of this tree, heart of the family and of the movie. It's a movie which follows the pace and the inner development of the single characters, mainly of Dawn, the mother, and Simone, the daughter, both wonderfully interpreted by a high-talented Charlotte Gainsbourg, and by a surprisingly mature little girl. It's a movie about the need to go on, to accept the strokes of life with the force and dignity that, let me say it, sometimes only women have, with no sentimentalism, no pathetic indulgence, but with sober realism and a strong feeling for human courage. Another movie that unfortunately will not reach the great distribution, but we know that the phantasmagoric magic of Harry Potter attracts more public and brings more money than the humble magic of a fig tree. However, a truly valid picture.

Sometime i feel alone in this world...and when I saw that this movie only had 6.6, it really just proved it again.

Enough is enough, I had to find my old password in order to log in, and vote 10, and of course, to write this review.

This movie is a masterpiece. It has some of the most wonderful pictures, cuts and acting I've ever seen. The acting is so psychological correct, that you forget all about you are watching a movie. Instead you feel like a fly on the wall. The only place were i lost my focus to the movie, where when I think: Where did they find that girl? (Simone) I found out later that more than 200 girls were auditioned to find her. This does not necessarily mean she, Morgana Davies, is excellent, but...she just is. I will bet what i have in my pockets, that this girl just has started a carrier, like Nathalie Portman did in Leon, this is her phantom star. Surely a great carrier is waiting.

But, let us not loose our focus from the movie. If you are a deep person, who loves themes like: family, the unexplained, loyalty, love, and great moving pictures, spiced with the best acting in cinemas right now...then go and buy this movie, and give it to your friend to enjoy it after wards.

I will "only" give it 9 though..just because of movies like Braveheart, La Vita e Bella and The Matrix still exists :) Peace E

Well. I had read reviews of this, and was looking forward to something good. What we got was - well - mediocre, really.

Charlotte Gainsbourg has been playing fragile, tense characters for a while, now. Don't get me wrong, she's good at it, but in this film she seems to have been either left without constraints to overact at will, or, worse still, TOLD to act like a gibbering, self centred wreck. (And, yes, I KNOW bereavement is tough, is excruciating, but she just gives up, then goes out to attach herself to another man).

On the other hand, Morgana Davies is just amazing. The most natural, real child actress I've seen in years, since Catinca Untaru in The Fall (2006). Just stunningly, amazingly well done.

OK, the film is about bereavement, and loss, and as a principle, and as a core and theme, this is certainly carried through, but on the one hand badly, and on the other brilliantly.

As to the other characters? Pretty well all of them two dimensional.

And, hey, if you can move houses like that, why not move the damn house a few metres down the hill and be done with it?

Morgana Davies. One to watch. Definitely.

I wanted to yank the stupid out of Dawn (Charlotte Gainsbourg). As a mother and a wife she needed to step the hell up and get her life together. As an actress, was Charlotte on drugs? It seemed that at each scene she was so detached that we weren't sure if she forgot her lines, or what.

It's about time we here in the US get to see some "real" Aussies instead of Jackman and Kidman prancing about. Marton (Csokas) has been up and down the block but still refreshing.

I would have rated this lower but I really enjoyed the overall story. Worth a watch but not a buy.

Ciao, babies.