L'arbre

I just finished watching The Tree, and I can not describe the feeling that I have.

This was truly a beautiful film, so touching and heartfelt. If you are expecting a tear jerking drama, then The Tree will not deliver what you want. The Tree has its sad moments, but it more focus's on the happier moments. The acting is very well done, the cinematography is stunning and the musical score is brilliant. Also, Morgana Davies is adorable! I can't wait to see how far she goes.

I highly suggest you sit down and watch the tree, it will give you a very warm feeling inside! 9/10

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.

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.

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.

This film is about a family that griefs the sudden death of the husband / father, as he collapsed while driving.

"The Tree" is an intensely introspective film, as it attempts to sculpt the emotional states, thoughts and feelings of the family members after the husband's death. As the husband's car hit a tree next to their house, the rest of the family have a special attachment to this tree. This attachment become central to the plot, and it requires much empathy to understand the characters' actions and motivation. The wife uses the tree for comfort, while the daughter Simone uses the tree as a replacement for her father. Even though the portrayals of the family's internal world are excellent, "The Tree" still suffers from being too slow and too plain for an average viewer.