For Silent Friend, the eighth feature by Ildikó Enyedi, three episodes set in 1908, 1972, and 2020 are linked by the presence of a Ginkgo Biloba, silently observing human destinies. The international cast includes Tony Leung Chiu-wai (2023 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement), a role written specifically for him. Born in Budapest, Enyedi won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes with My 20th Century and the Golden Bear at the Berlinale with On Body and Soul. Her films explore with sensitivity the relationship between the individual, nature, and imagination, establishing her as one of the most original voices in contemporary European cinema.
Silent Friend spans three eras, from 1908 to 2020, linked by a single tree. What inspired you to explore time and human transformation through the plant’s perspective?
There is an expression called “plant blindness”. When you sit in a room with a cat, it is evident to you that you have company. When it is a potted plant, you think you are all alone in that room. But you are not. When I was a teenager, in the 1970s, it was the time of the first big wave of experiments on plant communication. A strong curiosity and a strong wish to connect with these silent, complex beings who rule the planet was born in me – a city girl. I have carried it with me all my life. Our film does not aim to speak instead of the plants. Therefore, these different layers of time are not told from a plant’s perspective. It is about this wish and longing for communication, and the different clumsy attempts of humans to connect with them. I would have felt quite arrogant to show a plant’s perspective. I just wish to draw attention to the fact that these complex beings are here: they communicate, they have a social life, and although we are rather on the periphery of their attention, they observe our hectic, confused, and often confusing little lives.
Each episode was shot on a different medium – 35 mm, 16 mm, and digital. How did this shape the writing and narrative of the stories?
The main topic of the film is perception. The deeply different worlds that we – plants, animals, humans – live in. What we call reality in our human timeframe is partly a cultural construct, and quite ephemeral. Film, though it engages only our eyes and ears, is a very sensual medium. It moves you first, and understand follows because you are moved, you are touched through your senses. The accent is not on the storytelling, but on the different perceptual worlds of the three human protagonists. What they perceive while walking down the same paths in the same botanical garden, touching the trunk of the same tree, is deeply different. The film materials used are chosen not because they were used in a certain period, but because they bring us closer to the perceptual world of that time. The highly structured and rules-defined world of 1908, in which Grete lives in, stands in great contrast to the early 1970s, when rigid limits dissolved in every sense – in habits, clothing, social interaction, and, through psychedelics, also in elementary perceptual experiences. We lived in an impressionist painting, where instead of abstract shapes, patches of burning colors, smells, pollens, and pheromones filled the space. The piercing exactness of the digital fits to the deep isolation in which Tony, the neuroscientist, finds himself in 2020, during the first lockdown.
For her eighth feature film, the Hungarian director once again entrusts her storytelling to the force of nature. Three episodes set in 1908, 1972, and 2020—shot respectively on 35 mm, 16 mm, and digital—are connected by the presence of a grand Ginkgo Biloba, an ...
Your films often explore the relationship between the individual, nature, and imagination. How does Silent Friend continue these themes from My 20th Century to On Body and Soul and The Story of My Wife?
I am not the best person to answer this question. I can see the differences in my work. Each film is a completely new adventure for me – thinking back, there are no recurring stylistic elements. I love the risk of rediscovering film language every single time, even though I know that a strong personal style would mean a sort of safety net against the danger of being misunderstood. Thematic similarities probably stem from the fact that every one of my films is deeply personal, though none of them is personal in an autobiographical way. These are the thoughts I am passionate about, which I try to share – mostly in the form of questions, as a sort of invitation for dialogue with the unknown spectator. Well, it seems that what I am passionate about does not change much – even if, for me, each time it feels like something new, never experienced before.
The film features an international cast, including Tony Leung Chiu-wai. How did this collaboration come about, and what was it like working with him?
I wrote this role for Tony. That rich, meaningful silence of an introverted neuroscientist stuck on an empty campus needed Tony’s exceptional presence. His gaze, his body language, speak to us instead of words. They touch our soul directly. I am immensely thankful for his generosity in accepting the role. My producers warned me and tried to convince me to look for someone else, as he is told to be very reserved and declines most offers. But in my mind, this role was his and no one else’s. It was such a beautiful surprise that – as became clear during our first Zoom call – it was not just the role, but the motives, the way of thinking behind the whole film, which convinced him. I felt so lucky that beside a brilliant, great actor I also gained a true ally, someone who deeply understood and embraced the hidden motives driving script. I could share my passion, and not only I, but the whole team felt privileged to work with him. Tony has an incredible work ethic: focused, prepared, and possessing the energy and tender, thoughtful eyes to see and appreciate everyone working around him, with him – from focus puller and key grips to makeup artists and wardrobe assistants – fellow human beings working for the same shared goal. I hope this exotic excursion into the field of European author film was a good experience for him. For me, and for us, it was a truly memorable one.
