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The Tree 1/18/2011 11:18:10 PM
The Tree is a Franco-Australian film based on the novel by Judy Pascoe, “Our Father Who Art in a Tree“. It is the story of a family who lives happily in a beautiful Queenslander (those houses built on stilts that can be found throughout Queensland), under a gigantic Moreton Bay Fig Tree (at least from what I can tell). But disaster strikes and the O’Neill head of family dies of a heart attack while driving his ute, which collides head-on with the tree. Dawn remains alone with their four children, including eight-year-old Simone who was very close to her dad and believes he has reincarnated in the tree. The tree becomes an obsession for Simone and a fight, but it will eventually bring the family together. The Tree is mostly about the grieving process that Simone and each member of the family goes through, but it is also a story of hope, of love, and of struggle. There are beautiful pictures of the Australian countryside in the film, the story is well constructed, and the characters are all credible. Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of the infamous French singer Serge Gainsbourg and of English singer Jane Birkin, both well-known in France (Gainsbourg, who died quite a few years ago, was a sex symbol for many French women, which, for me, remains one of life’s biggest mysteries.) I don’t particularly like Charlotte Gainsbourg – She seems to have inherited her father’s bad looks and her mother’s stupid airs – but I found her really good in this film. In fact, I think she is the one who makes it come together. Her accent is not Australian, of course, so she has been given a French background (it works). There is something poetic about this film; it has beauty, it has depth; and it goes (too) quickly. My only negative comment is about a piece of dialogue that takes place between Simone and her best friend: although Simone is only eight years old, she speaks as a grown-up person, which I found particularly annoying. But if The Tree is shown at a cinema near you, don’t hesitate to go see it. It’s definitely worth it.
