In Venice’s premiere, “Silent Friend,” Hungarian director Ildico Eniedi observes people trying to communicate with plants in 1908, 1972 and 2020, respectively. But it’s not the first time. In the 1999 drama “Simon the Magician,” Plant served as a witness to the murder investigation.
“When I was a teenager in the 1970s, it was all about the ‘power of flowers’. I experimented with plant communication and used sensors or interfaces to understand what was happening between plants.
“It was a really beautiful and rustic time,” says Anyidy, referring to Cleave Buckster, an interrogator who installed plants on polygraphs. Now, how one of her characters opens the gate “taught a potted geranium.”
“This little experiment was based on what I read as a teenager. Scientists placed sensors on his plants and noticed that they responded every time they arrived home by car. He amplified small electrical signals and opened the garage,” she laughs.
“I have a strong desire to understand “other.” Plants, animals, or other humans. It’s embedded in us. But light humor was really important to me.
“Silent Friend” tracks three different people at three different times at the same German university. The first female student there, a young man, asked to take care of his crushed plants, and a Hong Kong neuroscientist was stuck there during the pandemic.
The latter is obsessed with the mysterious ginkgo tree of the Botanical Garden, played by Tony Leon Chiu Wei, who plays in his first European film.
“He was very interested in the philosophical undercurrents of film, so we had a very interesting conversation with Tony. We shared the book, Ted’s story and told me that Eastern philosophy is all about unity.
“It’s about not just repeating what we are ‘part of nature’, but accepting separation from it. There are small slices of what is perceived by human senses.
“Silent Friend” is an ecological or political statement and can be seen as a call to respect nature. But Anyidy resists such a big word.
“It was very important to me to make a statement by not making a statement. Many changes in our lives can be easy with just a little change in our perspective,” she argues.
It is sold at Films Boutique and is produced by Pandora Film, Inforg-M&M Film, Galatée Films and Rediance Films.
“When you seek kindness in the extremist way, it doesn’t work. But I’m always skeptical of showing only the dark side. It’s everywhere, and it’s true, but it’s not the only truth.
She had to suggest their inner life, finding ways to show the plants.
“I have made a very assertive about it being very simple. Again, given the limitations of our human beings, there is something that we can vaguely guess. It’s difficult to film trees in a sensual and delicate way. There are no faces. We spent a lot of time together with the filmmaker gergeallos.”
“This tree was in the middle of the town and was able to embrace the human perspective. But even in this human-controlled space, there is a complex being that has life and observes what we are doing.
In the 1908 episode, she returns to the work of German photographer Karl Brosfeldt, known for her black and white photography of plants.
“They were not exotic. They were cabbage, onions, small branches. But you could see them, the artists behind God or nature in full bloom.
She learns how to see nature even during the pandemic, reflecting Leon’s personality.
“I live in the middle of Budapest on the fourth floor and in front of my window there is a huge cherry tree. During the lockdown, it was amazing to see it change and make a very personal connection.
“In this kind of silence, we were able to finally realize that we weren’t alone. Later, the film changed the entire crew.
After the interview, Enyedi shares a poem by Sándor Weöres called “The Blured Borders.”
“As you begin to dismantle your personality, you experience the boundaries of your soul and others and those of others gradually disband.
When I look into the eyes of my fellow human beings, I feel their emotions and realize, “This is me too.” If you own a dog, you feel that the world is fused with you: “This is me too.” If your touch remains on the furniture, you absorb that unstructured silence: “This is me too.”
Your soul is not just yourself, but all souls are yours. Everything is transparent, as if it were made of crystals. Suddenly, you will become immeasurably abundant. Your body and soul will be refreshed, and work, rest, company, loneliness will fill you with equal joy. ”
“He says it’s much better than me,” she writes.
