With supernatural beings all around us, nesting in the widest variety of places, there’s no reason not to believe that the spirit of Peter O’Neill is living in the giant Moreton Bay fig tree that grows outside his house. “The Tree,” which opens here today, is a tale about the tree and Peter’s eight-year-old daughter, Simone. It’s a lovely story and a very good movie, even though it gets a little hokey here and there.
Morgana Davies, a luminous sprite, is amazing as Simone, inhabiting the role with the style of a grown woman. It’s exciting to watch her.
She’s in the bed of her father’s truck when he is has a massive heart attack and dies at the wheel, while the truck careens slowly off the road and comes to a stop against the tree. Kind of obvious symbolism, but Judy Pascoe’s novel, “Our Father Who Art in the Tree,” has it that way, as does Julie Bertuccelli’s mostly excellent screenplay; Bertuccelli also directed, and wins even higher marks in that department.
Peter’s death leaves his widow, Dawn (the superb Charlotte Gainsbourg) and four children, Tim (Christian Byers), Lou (Tom Russell), Charlie (Gabriel Gitting) and Simone. The few minutes of film before Peter’s death shows that he and Dawn had an extraordinary relationship, and she takes things hard. Very hard. Eventually, she finds a romantic interest, but Simone, who was daddy’s favorite, resents his presence.
Simone finds the huge, sprawling tree a perfect spot for hiding from the world, or reading, and she is convinced that the spirit of her father is living there. The tree has its own life to live, and there’s a nosy woman neighbor who lives nearby. The story plays out nicely, under Bertuccelli’s patient, comfortable direction. A little pat, perhaps, but a very good movie.
The Tree opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe