On the third day of the Sydney Film Festival my day started with the screening of The Tree (2010), Australia/France, which was the closing night film at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of weeks ago which is one of the most heralded spots in the world to have your film close the Cannes Film Festival. Unfortunately Julie Bertucelli, director, the film falls very flat and doesn't live up to the hype of such a heralded endorsement by the Cannes Film Festival. The Tree takes place in rural Australian when a family of four children suffers the loss of their father/husband. The film centrally revolves around the mother, Dawn (Charolette Gainsbourg) who really struggles with the loss of her partner and her daughter, Simone (Morgana Davies) who both seemed to have a close connection with a large tree that is located alongside their house. The other children play a smaller role in the story. The Tree tries to be mysterically kitchen table drama that such doesn't work essentially due to the performance of Gainsbourg which never really works, her accent and character just annoyed me. Her accent is an English/French background even though her character has lived in rural Australian for over 15 years which doesn't seem to work in the context of the story. Gainsbourg is amazing actress who's performance in this film just doesn't work. The Tree is held together by Morgana Davies who as child delivers a strong performance to keep this film from completely falling apart.
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