The Tree
The Tree
The second feature film from Julie Bertucelli, acclaimed director of Since Otar Left, The Tree stars Award-winning actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, newcomer Morgana Davies, and is based on the much-loved Australian novel, Oh Father Who Art in the Tree by Judy Pascoe ... One day, Peter dies of a heart attack, crashing his car into the tree trunk. Dawn is left alone with her grief and four children to raise. All of them naturally go looking for comfort under their protective tree, which becomes even more present in their lives.
2.2 out of 5 based on 13 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Certificate |
12 |
| Genre |
Drama |
| Director |
Julie Bertucelli |
| Cast |
Charlotte Gainsbourg Morgana Davies Marton Csokas |
| Studio |
Zeitgeist Films |
| Release Date |
August 2011 |
| Running Time |
101 mins |
| |
The second feature film from Julie Bertucelli, acclaimed director of Since Otar Left, The Tree stars Award-winning actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, newcomer Morgana Davies, and is based on the much-loved Australian novel, Oh Father Who Art in the Tree by Judy Pascoe ... One day, Peter dies of a heart attack, crashing his car into the tree trunk. Dawn is left alone with her grief and four children to raise. All of them naturally go looking for comfort under their protective tree, which becomes even more present in their lives.
Reviews
Empire Magazine
Patrick Peters
“The cinematography and sound design are crucial to the heightening of the unsettling atmosphere, while the sensitive performances keep things rooted in realism. But, for all its intimacy and restraint, this never quite convinces.”
10/08/2011
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The Evening Standard
Derek Malcolm
“An intriguing view of what it must be like living deep in the Aussie outback and some nice camera-work detailing the ups and downs of the weather Down Under.”
08/05/2011
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The Los Angeles Times
Sheri Linden
“With her Modigliani mystery, Charlotte Gainsbourg brings aching melancholy to the role of Dawn. As compelling as she is to watch, though, the character's passivity saps the film of energy, especially in its first half, which is all but devoid of tension.”
10/08/2011
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Time Out
Trevor Johnston
“While the central metaphor’s a bit too obvious, we like the people enough to go with it. Unusual and endearing.”
08/04/2011
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The Times
Kate Muir
“The story is too thin to support an entire film, but it is atmospherically shot.”
08/05/2011
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Total Film
Simon Kinnear
“As Julie Bertuccelli’s film grows more far-fetched, the veneer of tasteful restraint prevents it from becoming enjoyably bonkers.”
08/02/2011
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The New York Times
Stephen Holden
“There’s something unsavory — not to mention sentimental — about using the horrors of the past as a goad to self-knowledge. The scale is too far out of whack. Meaning to honor history, the film instead trivializes it.”
10/08/2011
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The Daily Telegraph
Tim Robey
“There’s no doubt that writer-director Julie Bertuccelli (Since Otar Left) is gifted with lighting, child acting, and testing the quarrelsome ways families pull at their roots.”
08/04/2011
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The Independent
Anthony Quinn
“One of those "personal" projects the director has got so close to that she can't see how it plays on screen”
08/05/2011
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The Independent on Sunday
Nicholas Barber
“The really striking thing about the Holocaust, according to Sarah's Key, is how ambivalent it makes an American reporter feel about her marriage, 70 years later.”
07/08/2011
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The Financial Times
Nigel Andrews
“A good actor working with nothing becomes a bad actor. He or she seizes up like a car without oil... Freudian claptrap”
08/04/2011
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The Guardian
Peter Bradshaw
“An outrageously twee, spiritual and supercilious drama”
08/04/2011
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The Sunday Times
Edward Porter
“... arduously well-behaved and precious drama ...”
07/08/2011
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