The Tree (2010)

Description

Charlotte Gainsbourg (I'm Not There) stars in Julie Bertuccelli's achingly beautiful follow-up to her sleeper hit Since Otar Left. Closing Night Film at Cannes in 2010, The Tree is a mystical drama of loss and rebirth in the Australian countryside. Not since classic 1970s works Picnic at Hanging Rock and Walkabout has the harshly gorgeous outback landscape been such a lyrical yet foreboding metaphor for grief and coming of age. Blindsided with anguish after her husband's sudden death, Dawn (Gainsbourg)-along with her four young children- struggles to make sense of life without him. Then, eight-year-old Simone (unforgettable newcomer Morgana Davies) becomes convinced that her father is whispering to her through the leaves of the gargantuan fig tree that towers over their house.