Sorrow, grief and tragedy underpin deep-seated trauma in Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s snowballing dark comedy “Under The Tree.” Like an extravagant oak casting an overwhelming shade, distress and dissension brood over the lives of two neighboring families. With trivial apprehension uprooting suburban comfort, Sigurðsson’s latest proves that regardless of our individual aches and pains, grief-stricken irrationality poses tremendous and even horrifying consequences.
Iceland’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Film this past year, “Under The Tree” operates between two plotlines divulging into preventable animosity and misunderstanding—one between neighbors, and the other between a couple who separate over the husband’s suspected affair.
Baldvin (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) and Inga (Edda Björgvinsdóttir) hold dear to them, a large beautiful tree in their front yard. However, it has overgrown into the property of their next-door neighbors, Konrad (Þorsteinn Bachmann) and Eybjorg (Selma Björnsdóttir). As anyone would, they ask Baldvin to cut the tree back, but what appears to be a cordial request at first, unexpectedly and absurdly escalates into a clash that bleeds into the very last scene.
In the midst of the dilemma, Baldvin’s son, Atli (Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson) has moved back in after he was shown the door by his wife Agnes (Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir) for cheating. As Atli tries to reconcile the marriage and obtain the right to see his five-year-old daughter, his parents are still grieving the loss of their missing son (Atli’s brother), becoming immersed in an unnecessary tailspin of irrationality offset by the mother’s hysteria and depression.
Struggling to help each other cope with the loss connecting them all, the internal turmoil facing this family is daunting. Needless to say, some of their decisions made in the face of hardship are borderline absurd—like having your neighbor’s dog euthanized and stuffed.
“Who does a thing like this? How crazy can you be?! Do you think this is the end of it? This is not the end of it,” yells Konrad following his counterpart’s act of hostility.
In such an instance, character motivation in this social satire becomes increasingly dreadful as the plot unravels. Once passive aggressiveness gives way to uncontrolled violence, what was once simple miscommunication soon takes a detrimental path into unintended malaise. Nevertheless, as initial grief abruptly morphs into dangerous anger, Sigurðsson manages to keep “Under The Tree” anchored to its dark comedic roots while weaning from family drama tropes.
Even though the suburban rivalry storyline has been stretched thin into both comedic and sinister realms, “Under The Tree” takes exception to familiarity by tethering its seemingly commonplace dilemma to an unwavering dark comedic middle ground. Within this festering suburban hell, selfishness is on full display—not by all—but by those whose minds are overwhelmed with the ramifications of loss—specifically Inga. Her petty and needless perpetuation of conflict with her counterparts is frustrating, yet lends a sneakily hectic display of interactions that elicit dark humor in its purest essence. Accordingly, Inga’s puzzling indiscretion allows viewers a glimpse into the fascinating course of old age and its trivial altercations that may arise between two driveways.
As dysfunction and miscommunication abound, the large tree in their small yard contrasts this tumultuous dynamic. While it appears to be the source of neighborly disdain, the brimming tree signifies stability and impartiality. Unfortunately, Konrad and Eybjorg’s seemingly courteous request for their grieving neighbors to trim the tree is misunderstood and skewed into abysmal proportions, eventually culminating in a final act full of irony and complete madness.
As the viewer, it’s difficult to pick a side considering both commit regrettable acts against one another. On that note, the audience member resembles the very tree which flourishes tall and proud between these two heated inhabitants. Alongside this tree, the viewer is an ineffective mediator—attesting to numerous squabbles while also bearing witness to the gradual descent into madness by each participant. There’s a sense of inescapability about this unraveling of sanity, and while it’d seem easy to simply reconcile over the numerous heinous acts, these characters are blatantly pained with tragedy and the inability to cope.
There isn’t a lot of happiness floating around “Under The Tree.” Although the director does imbue a considerable amount of absurdist humor, the view of humanity depicted here is decidedly bleak as each character continually flirts with the unrelenting brutality contained within. With suburban normalcy ultimately derailed by a suitably cynical, albeit humorous resolution, the final actions these neighbors take contribute to a far more meaningful message regarding the unsympathetic tendencies of humanity. Moreover, the measures taken by these feuding characters underlie the ruinous ways in which grief, hysteria and mental illness as a whole continue to be approached by society, especially by our own family members and neighbors. [B+]
