THE TREE
Australia/France, 2010, 100 minutes, Colour.
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas, Morgana Davies.
Directed by Julie Bertuccelli.
From the director of the fine SIGNIS award winning film, Since Otar Left. And the tree that they found for the film looks quite magnificent.
This is a story of an ordinary family in Queensland, the father a truck driver (Aden Young) and the mother at home with four children (Charlotte Gainsbourg). The father dies at the opening of the film and the rest of the plot concerns how well, or not, they cope with the death, especially as the months pass. They all grieve in their own way. The most dramatic is 8 year old Simone (Morgana Davies) who finds the presence of her father in the Moreton Bay Fig tree outside the house and communes with him. She persuades her mother to do the same but becomes unhappy, thinking the others have forgotten their father, and she becomes resentful when her mother takes a job at a store in town and the owner comes out to do jobs at their house and lends them his trailer for a Christmas holiday at the beach (Marton Csokas).
While the Queensland scenery looks wonderful, the film is more ordinary, likeable (though Simone can be rather irritating as she makes emotional demands on her mother ‘this instant’) than highly dramatic.
Nature turns against them rather spectacularly at the end, but they go forward with some greater happiness to begin again.
Adapted from a novel by Judy Pascoe, Our Father who art in the Tree.
1. An Australian story, French co-production? French author and screenplay? Perceptions of Australia and its way of life, characters?
2. The Queensland setting, the town, the landscapes, the coast? Houses and shops? The musical score?
3. The tree, its size, appearance, impact? Realism? Symbolism? Mysticism?
4. The introduction, Peter and Dawn, at ease with each other, love, the years, the four children, the hammock?
5. Peter and his work, transporting the large house? His mate? Driving, the heart attack, the children on the back of the truck, his death? Living in their memories? In the tree? The title of the novel - My Father Who Art in a Tree?
6. Dawn, her background, her salesman father, French, mother returning to Europe? Sales, in pubs? Meeting Peter? The children, not imagining having a life without the children? The neighbours, friends, busybodying? The group meeting? Part of the town? The long years in the house? Tim, Lou, Simone, Charlie? Peter dying and her not being able to help, not knowing what to do?
7. The cemetery, the visit, no name on the headstone, symbol of the loss of memories, yet the photos, talk about Peter?
8. Simone and the tree, climbing it, talking to her father, being in the tree? Waking Dawn in the night, getting her to go into the tree, Dawn talking, revisiting the tree? Sleeping in the tree? Rational and mystical explanations?
9. The tree and its size, the drought, the roots coming to the surface, breaking into the toilet, the frogs, the neighbour's fence, the cutting down of the branch, its being destructive, the crack in the tank, watering and the climbing vine? George bringing the equipment, Simone and her staying in the tree, George going up to her, Dawn paying off the workers?
10. Simone, her age, demanding? Her friend and their chatter, their makebelieve about what they would be like at different ages? Sharing secrets? Riding with her father on the truck? Experiencing his death, grieving, discovering the tree, talking with her father? Tim telling her that she was not the only child? Her resenting George? The attempt to cut down the tree, her climbing and staying in the tree, her demands from her mother? The holiday, enjoying it, swimming, seeing the jellyfish - and their later being stranded by the cyclone? Her saying the first Christmas without her father?
11. Lou, the boys, the bikes, playing the instrument, an ordinary young boy? Charlie as the baby, playing up, his cheerfulness? Not talking? Finally talking?
12. Tim, reliable, the care of his father in death, the job enquiry and his father's mate, studying for the exams, helping his mother, the shopping, at home, passing his exam, preparing to leave, his mother being fussy about his things?
13. Dawn, the job, talking with George, snooping in his room? Getting him to fix the toilet and the frogs? The pub, the drink, talk, the kiss? George and the cutting down of the branch? Simone's resentment? George lending the trailer for the holiday, swimming and enjoying the beach? The tree and its roots, the decision to cut it down, George and his helping, Simone and her control? Dawn and the relationship, yet asking him to leave? The end - and the two vehicles going past each other, the possibilities?
14. The staging of the cyclone, Simone and the tree, her mother getting it down, the family huddling together, the house battered, the tree uprooted?
15. Their leaving, new beginnings, passing George in the truck, the end of a phase, death, the death of the tree, and their literally having to move on?
