Silent Friend

The Brief

The new film by Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi is a sensual, funny and visually stunning film about the secret life of plants. One of last year's finest and most original films is a mysterious and beautiful film about how plants and trees can give us a deeper understanding of existence. The film tells three parallel stories about people who find themselves in the same place at different times: the university in Marburg and its botanical garden. The oldest story takes place in 1908 with Grete, the university's very first female student. The next story takes place in 1972 and follows the shy literature student Hannes. In the newest story, we meet Tony Leung playing a Chinese visiting researcher stranded at a pandemic-locked German university. This is a luminously original and distinctly sensory film about the relationship between humans and nature.