MIFF: The Butterfly Tree

With the support of the MIFF Premiere Fund, the debut feature of writer-director Priscilla Cameron is a vivid, surreal and timeless story of grief and love, and the surprising ways in which they mingle.

13-year-old Fin (Ed Oxenbould), still grieving the death of his mother and estranged from his struggling father, Al (Ewen Leslie), strikes up a friendship with exotic dancer and local florist Evelyn (Melissa George). Undergoing the first steps of a sexual awakening and search for a figure to replace his lost mother, Fin’s relationship with Evelyn develops into obsession, complicated further by his father’s own burgeoning romance with the alluring florist.

Working from her Australian Writers’ Guild award-winning script, Cameron’s The Butterfly Tree is both a fantastical love story and a raw examination of a family in mourning. Cameron manages to strike a surprising balance between the two tones, not letting either one upset the other. Visually, the film is a vibrant, rich and colourful with the texture and saturated colour of Evelyn’s greenhouse a sharp contrast to the grey, claustrophobic interiors of Al’s office. Both Melissa George and Ewen Leslie give terrific performances as a woman hiding a great pain through a veneer of beauty and a father struggling to keep his head up above the water.

While the film is visually sumptuous, certain story elements remain questionable, specifically Fin and his unhealthy lust for Evelyn. Oxenbould gives a fine performance in what is a complex role for a young actor and while much of Fin’s behavior can be attributed to grief, later developments in the film’s resolution don’t quite sit well. There is a lack of consequences to his behaviour as it all wraps up a bit too neatly.

Surreal and gorgeous to behold from the first frame, Priscilla Cameron’s debut feature examines the complicated relationship between grief and love. A visual treat best seen on the big screen.

MIFF 2017 
Various locations
Till Sunday, 20 August 2017
miff.com.au