• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Film

Film Review: Under the Tree

A tree sparks a spat between neighbours in Haffstein Gunnar Sigurðsson black comedy Under the Tree. When Atli (Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson), husband to Agnes (Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir) and father of young daughter Asa (Sigrídur Sigurpálsdóttir Scheving), is caught by his wife having a crafty wank early one morning to a video of him and an […]

Mike McNulty by Mike McNulty
2018-08-10 13:01
in Film, Film Reviews
The London Economic

The London Economic

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

A tree sparks a spat between neighbours in Haffstein Gunnar Sigurðsson black comedy Under the Tree.

When Atli (Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson), husband to Agnes (Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir) and father of young daughter Asa (Sigrídur Sigurpálsdóttir Scheving), is caught by his wife having a crafty wank early one morning to a video of him and an ex-girlfriend having sex, he is thrown out on the street.  With nowhere to go, but home, Atli heads for his parent’s place where an altogether different, but equally vicious confrontation is brewing.

Atli’s parents Inga (Edda Björgvinsdóttir) and Baldvin (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) are the proud owners of a maple tree, a rarity in Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.  But, much to the irritation of neighbours Eybjorg (Selma Björnsdóttir) and Konrad (Þorsteinn Bachmann), the tree casts a large shadow into their garden. When polite requests go unheard, insults are exchanged, and tit for tat escalates into a suburban guerrilla war with deadly consequences.

Sigurðsson weaves between two narratives and whilst the fractured, slow deterioration of Atli’s marriage and the inevitable ugliness of a custody battle seems the more urgent story when coupled with the absurdity of his parent’s neighbourly feud we are provided a quietly affecting insight into the futile and ridiculous nature of conflict.

The film is imbued with a palpable sense of sadness, cruelty, and dread, but not without sympathy and flecks of comedy.  We discover that Atli’s brother disappeared several years earlier, assumed to have killed himself, but with no body recovered.  

Whilst both Atli and Baldvin suffer, they have come to terms with it.  Inga, however, has not met the same form of closure and clings to the possibility that her son may still be alive.  Her distress manifests itself in a slow alcoholism and flashes of spitefulness, and Sigurðsson uses this to generate some of the larger laughs and suggest the importance of context and the complexity of emotionally compulsive behaviour.

Under the Tree may have failed to secure a foreign-language Oscar nomination, but its melancholy and mirth will charm and alarm you.

Content Protection by DMCA.com

RelatedPosts

Review: EO

Review: Enys Men

Review: Tori and Lokita

Review: Armageddon Time

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

In pictures: Paddy’s day at Cheltenham

Peckham stabbing: Son charged with murdering 75-year-old mother

The Weekly Cocktail Recipe: ‘London To Kentucky’

Revealed: Christmas dinner hacks that could save your bacon over the festive period

Beach that returned after being lost at sea for 33 years has been washed away again

Cross-party Brexit talks collapse

Sausage dog rescued by firefighters after it gets stuck between fence railings

PMQs – ‘Tell me, what first attracted the PM to billionaire oligarchs?’

‘It wouldn’t surprise me,put it that way’ – Celtic boss on potential new approach for Tierney

THE BIG MEETING celebrates Durham Miners’ Gala

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.