Silent Friend Review: A Ginkgo Tree Watches a Century

Is Silent Friend worth watching?

Yes, if you are in the mood for slow, attentive cinema: Silent Friend is a tender and genuinely original drama about how people, across a hundred years, try to understand a life form that cannot speak back. Ildikó Enyedi turns an old tree in a university botanical garden into the quiet centre of three stories, and the film’s sense of wonder is infectious. The reservation is that its strands are not equally strong, and at nearly two and a half hours its meditative pace will feel indulgent to viewers who want narrative drive.

What is Silent Friend about?

Silent Friend is set in a German university town and built around a large ginkgo tree in its botanical garden. The film moves between three periods. In the early 1900s, a young woman played by Luna Wedler arrives as one of the first female students at a university that is not ready for her. In the 1970s, amid the counter-culture, a shy male student becomes absorbed in an experiment involving plants. And in 2020, as the pandemic empties the campus, a visiting neuroscientist played by Tony Leung stays behind and becomes fascinated by the idea that the tree might perceive the world around it, and might even be reached.

Léa Seydoux appears as a scientist whose work connects with his. The stories do not intersect in a conventional plot sense; they echo each other, with the tree as the silent witness to each.

Enyedi, the Hungarian director of the Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul, wrote and directed the film. It is a European co-production, largely in German and English, and it runs 147 minutes.

Three eras, one way of looking

Enyedi gives each period its own texture. The early strand has a formal, carefully composed look that reflects the rigid world its heroine is trying to enter; the 1970s section feels looser and warmer; the pandemic chapter is marked by empty spaces and isolation. Moving between them, the film builds a quiet argument about attention: what it means to observe something closely, whether a plant, a person or a changing world.

The tree itself is filmed with extraordinary care. Enyedi and her collaborators use close-ups, time-lapse and patient long takes to make the plant life feel active and mysterious, and the effect is closer to a nature documentary infused with longing than to a conventional period drama.

Leung, Wedler and the pull of curiosity

Tony Leung gives the most affecting performance. His scientist is solitary, gentle and a little lost, and Leung’s stillness is ideal for a character whose most important relationship is with something that cannot respond. His scenes have a humour and melancholy that make the pandemic strand the emotional heart of the film.

Luna Wedler is equally strong in the earliest story, playing a woman whose intelligence and determination meet constant resistance. Her strand gives the film its sharpest edge, touching on sexism and the struggle to be taken seriously. Léa Seydoux is warm and engaging, though her role is smaller than her billing suggests.

Where the rhythm slackens

The film’s structure is both its charm and its weakness. Because the three strands are linked by theme rather than story, momentum can dissipate as the film cuts between them, and not every strand holds the attention as firmly as the others. At 147 minutes, some scenes linger long after their point is made. Viewers who connect with Enyedi’s wavelength will not mind; others may find their attention drifting.

Who should watch Silent Friend?

It is for lovers of contemplative European art cinema, admirers of Enyedi and Tony Leung, and anyone drawn to films about nature, science and wonder. It needs a calm evening and full attention; it is not a background watch. Its content is gentle for the most part, with little that is graphic, though its themes and pace are pitched at adults and older teenagers.

If it speaks to you, try:

• On Body and Soul, Enyedi’s earlier, dreamlike love story, which shares this film’s interest in unspoken connection.
• Tokyo Story, a classic of patient, observant filmmaking that rewards the same kind of attention.

Fans of Léa Seydoux should know she is part of a true ensemble here rather than the lead.

The verdict

Silent Friend is a gentle, beautiful and unusual film that asks viewers to slow down and look closely. Its structure sometimes saps its momentum and its length is demanding, but Enyedi’s wonder and Tony Leung’s quiet performance make it a rewarding experience.