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James Mottram

3/5 stars
Silent Friend, the latest film from Hungarian auteur Ildiko Enyedi, marks the first role in a European production for Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The internationally renowned Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution has, surprisingly, never ventured into the European film industry until now.
While he finds a gentle work here that feels entirely suited to his tranquil demeanour, Enyedi’s film probably sets another precedent for the veteran actor: he is also sharing billing with dozens of plant species.
Typical of the film’s idiosyncrasies, the end credits to Silent Friend, which is being unveiled in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival, list the names of every plant that features in a triptych of tales that span almost 100 years, all set around a university campus in a medieval German town.


In Leung’s segment, the year is 2020, at the height of Covid. He plays Dr Tony Wong, a neuroscientist from Hong Kong who has devoted his life to studying how babies perceive the world.
Bent out of shape by the isolation caused by lockdown, his character becomes drawn to running tests on a magnificent ginkgo tree that stands tall in a nearby botanical garden. “Scientific experiments can be weird sometimes,” he remarks, a comment that could just as easily apply to this art house curio.
Enyedi switches focus to 1908, where the bright, young Grete (Luna Wedler) is being interviewed by a panel of ageing male professors at the university. The college has just allowed women to apply, much to the chagrin of these sexist dinosaurs.
Finally, in the least engaging segment, male student Hannes (Enzo Brumm) moons after a free-spirited girl conducting research into the humble geranium in the early 1970s.

As Enyedi sways back and forth between the stories, finding the most casual of rhythms, her film does not so much build to a climax as tip-tap along. Themes are hard to discern, with the exception of these three protagonists seeking a connection to the natural world.
Or as Léa Seydoux, playing a fellow academic who meets with Leung’s character over video messaging, puts it: “When I see a botanical garden, I see a bunch of lonely souls.”
Best known for her Golden Bear winner On Body and Soul, Enyedi never quite finds a way to gel these three distinct stories, despite the presence of some fine actors, including a soulful Leung.
But the film does feature some mesmerising time-lapse photography, and concludes with a majestic shot of the ginkgo tree in full bloom. It is a mysterious ending to a movie that tries – and sometimes succeeds – in engaging with the mysteries of life.

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The Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution plays a scientist in one section of Ildiko Enyedi’s three-part botanical film


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution plays a scientist in one section of Ildiko Enyedi’s three-part botanical film

The Hong Kong star of In the Mood for Love and Lust, Caution plays a scientist in one section of Ildiko Enyedi’s three-part botanical film