The Butterfly Tree

Hard life, nice color, desire the colorful life! Small man, gross man, true love always heavy! Butterfly, butterfly, short, intensive life! Hard life, nice color, desire the colorful life! Small man, gross man, true love always heavy! Butterfly, butterfly, short, intensive life! Hard life, nice color, desire the colorful life! Small man, gross man, true love always heavy! Butterfly, butterfly, short, intensive life!

Al and Fin, father and teen son, are reeling from the loss of a beloved wife and mother. Each is dealing with the loss in a different way, yet in no way that is particularly constructive. Al is having an affair with a student and Fin is sulking in a cocoon of solitude. Neither is communicating. This is when Evelyn flits into town. She is a beautiful and colorful apparition wreathed in flowers, butterflies, exquisite jewelry and bubble bath. Al and Fin are so blinded by passion, be it grief or love, that they risk losing each other as well as the woman they seek.

The film is personal for the director who felt extreme grief and loneliness when a close friend died. While the actors lack assurance and chemistry between each other, the story is compelling and it flows together well. Queensland, Australia, is the perfect dream- scape setting for the film. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival.

While the visuals and colour palette were interesting, they weren't enough to overcome the flaws of the film.

The film came across as unfocused, and the message was lost. Female characters seemed only to exist to tell the story of the male characters, whose strange fascination with Melissa George's character was used as an excuse for their own shortcomings.

Not sure why some people rated low. This is beautiful movie i have ever seen

There is much here that is very easy on the eye. Indeed there are most beautiful shots of butterflies and other insects as well as the titular tree and more. The house and interior of the new girl in town is also sumptuous and suitably filmed, as is the new owner, an ex burlesque dancer. The snag here is that with so much that is so pretty and stylish, verging on the fantastical, there is something of a disconnect with the rather poignant story being told. This is simple enough with a father, his son, aforementioned exotic dancer and rather forward young lady at father's school but in the dreamlike and fantastically colourful sequences some of the intensity of the drama is lost. Good performances all round and a most unusual and beautiful Australian film, that looks anything but, in this ever golden light and an idyllic suburb reminiscent of some of those equally unreal 'burbs in certain US films. Highly watchable nevertheless.