Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend traces three distinct eras – 1908, 1972, and 2020 – through the enduring presence of a single ancient ginkgo tree, connecting lives and histories across time. The film traces how humans have tried to understand the natural world under the witness of an ancient ginkgo tree in the botanic garden of a medieval university in Germany: the first female student (Luna Wedler) of the university at the start of the twentieth century discovers the pattern of plant universe via the scope of photography, a young student (Enzo Brumm) in the 1970s who discovers plants’ rules of behaviour, and, in the final thread, a Hong Kong neuroscientist (Tony Leung) who studies the mind of babies – trapped on a German campus during the COVID-19 lockdowns happens to start his experiment with the old ginkgo tree.

Though the Golden Lion didn’t go to Silent Friend ultimately, this humble masterpiece was, for me – and, I suspect, for many others – the true best film of 82^nd Venice Film Festival. When the credits ended, the audience broke into long, loud applause. The cast, including Luna Wedler (winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress), Enzo Brumm, and Léa Seydoux, gave way to the director. Enyedi took a modest bow and then asked the entire crew to stand and share the moment before quietly stepping aside. The applause went on and on, a clear sign of how deeply the film had connected with everyone in the room.

Silent Friend avoids romanticising plants or portraying humans as villains. It offers a gentle look at coexistence, where people seek to understand the world around them while plants quietly grow, and heal.

Although it’s rooted in scientific ideas, the film hardly overwhelms the audience with technical jargon. From the very first frame, Enyedi places us inside the world of the scientists. We don’t need to “catch up” or imagine their perspectives, we have always been there, sharing their journey. It’s like sitting in the back seat of a car, watching the road ahead unfold. This immediacy and instinctive engagement are rare in science-themed films and makes Silent Friend profoundly accessible.

Luna Wedler’s storyline allows us to look at the early days of botany, full of rigorous study and tentative breakthroughs. By 1972, we see a young student experimenting with a potted geranium, using basic elements, attempting to decode botanical language. The experiment is so simple, something anyone who’s ever taken a science class could follow, yet it draws us deeper into the mystery of plant behaviour, allowing the audience to follow along without confusion while building anticipation for the results.

Enyedi’s depth of research comes across strongly. During preproduction preparation, she sent Tony Leung books and materials about early cognitive development, plant intelligence, and how we should share this planet together with other living beings, helping him fully inhabit his role. For the audience, this is a film that resists preconceptions, one that neither its synopsis nor its trailer can truly prepare you for. We’ve never truly seen a film told from the perspective of plants themselves. We know, abstractly, that plants are living beings, but we rarely pause to imagine their inner lives, and Enyedi opens that door for us.

As Tony Leung shared during the press conference, this film permanently changed his perspective on plants. I can’t agree more. The moment I saw a tree’s root system breathing on screen, I knew I would never again look at a tree without wondering what it feels. It has an Umwelt, which is the subjective world that an organism experiences based on its unique sensory perceptions and abilities. It represents how a plant, or even a human, perceives and interacts with its surroundings. That shift is irreversible, and its ripples continue to shape how I experience the world.

There’s also a silent feminism flowing throughout the film. From the first female student to the scientist juggling childcare during the pandemic, the women in Silent Friend reflect strength and possibility. Their personalities and struggles differ, but each one feels fully alive. Enyedi’s feminist perspective isn’t obvious or forceful; it’s subtle, and its impact becomes clear only after the film ends.

For me, Silent Friend was unlike anything I’ve seen before. The script is so carefully written that you follow the science completely without ever feeling talked down to. I left the cinema humbled, by plants, by the world, by cinema itself. This is a film you give yourself over to entirely. It calms you, it challenges you, it reminds you that every living thing matters. And, most importantly, it leaves you hopeful for a better, more connected world.

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Written by Jane Wei

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