The Tree

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

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.

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.

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