A Ginkgo Tree's Silent Witness Spans Centuries in Enyedi's Haunting New Film

The new film Silent Friend presents a unique exploration of plant perception across three distinct time periods. Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, the story unfolds from the perspective of a ginkgo tree in Marburg's Botanical Garden. The essayistic drama blends science, emotion, and a subtle distortion of time to question how much humans truly understand about the natural world.

The narrative weaves together three eras: 1908, the 1970s, and the present day during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1908, Grete, a pioneering biology student, becomes the first woman admitted to the university's biology programme. She later turns to botanical photography, documenting the unseen connections between plants and people.

Decades later, in the 1970s, literature student Hannes forms an unusual bond with a geranium. Using a seismograph-like device, he attempts to decode what the plant might perceive, convinced that it responds to human care. His experiments mirror the film's central question: can plants recognize those who tend to them?

In the present day, neuroscientist Tony takes the inquiry further. He wires up the same ginkgo tree, now centuries old, to study its potential communication methods. His work echoes the earlier experiments but with modern technology, though scientific research on plant sentience remains limited.

The film's perspective stays rooted in the ginkgo tree's viewpoint, offering a quiet yet profound shift in how audiences experience time and perception. Enyedi, known for her Golden Bear-winning On Body and Soul, crafts a story that challenges the limits of human understanding. The cast includes Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Luna Wedler, with the 147-minute runtime allowing for a slow, contemplative unfolding of its themes.

Despite the film's imaginative approach, current scientific literature shows no major advances in proving plant perception as depicted. Research continues to focus on plant biochemistry and human sensory studies rather than sentience or recognition abilities.

Silent Friend leaves viewers with a lingering reflection on humanity's narrow view of reality. The film does not provide answers but instead highlights how little we may truly grasp about the world beyond our senses. Its release adds to ongoing conversations about the boundaries between science, intuition, and the mysteries of nature.