In our world where everything moves quickly, it is sometimes good to give time to time. It is a contemplative journey that offers The Golden Butterfly Tree by Pham Thiên Ân crowned with the Caméra d’or which rewards the best first film at the Cannes Film Festival. You have to let yourself be won over by this story with its captivating images revealing the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside to grasp all its subtlety.
The journey of a young man and his 5-year-old nephew is tinged with a gentle melancholy and a permanent spirituality. “I wanted to immerse a man in a journey to his hometown that leads him to reconnect with his past. This journey reflects the dimensions of the human soul, something we constantly seek but can never fully achieve, something linked to our dreams, our passions and the inevitability of death,” explains the director in the press kit.
A reflection on life and faith
Faith is at the center of a very strong story lasting almost three hours which mixes dreaminess and realism in a very original way by using non-professional actors. Magnificent work on the soundtrack completes the immersion offered by the filmmaker. The impression of following the characters as if we were specters come to haunt the heroes’ charged past is deeply disorienting, like a meditation.
The characters’ mourning soon takes the form of a powerful reflection on life. There is little action but a lot of cinema in The Golden Butterfly Treea good reason to try this almost mystical experience of breathtaking beauty.