Oscar-nominated Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi's return to the Venice Film Festival competition, Silent Friend, had its world premiere Friday evening as the last film in the fest's 2025 lineup, receiving an ovation that lasted 5 minutes and 22 seconds.
The applause in the Sala Grande was enthusiastic and only died down as the cast and creatives made for the exits, led by its co-star Léa Seydoux.
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Silent Friend stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Seydoux and intertwines three time periods, set in the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany where a majestic ginkgo tree stands. This "silent witness" for over a century has observed the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives.
In 2020, a neuroscientist from Hong Kong who is exploring the mind of infants, begins an unexpected experiment with the old tree. In 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by the simple act of observing and connecting with a geranium. In 1908, the university's first female student discovers, through the lens of photography, sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. Each of the characters is transformed by the quiet, enduring and mysterious power of nature.
Enyedi, whose On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2017 and was later nominated in the Foreign Language Oscar race, last competed on the Lido in 1994.
In her review for Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury called Silent Friend "Beautiful, elusive and peppered with provocative nuggets about the nature of life and our place in it."
Indeed, the film made quite the impression today, as members of the media showered Enyedi with praise during the afternoon press conference, where she commented on the importance of "free research and science" which she said are "under attack" and urged, "Let's preserve it, let's live with it and let's enjoy the fruits of free science."
Leung, who appeared via video, said the research he did for his role gave him "a different perspective about the world" and that he began to "have strange feelings about trees... I feel their soul or their mind."
The movie is produced by Pandora Film (Reinhard Brundig), Inforg-M&M Film (Monika Mécs), Galatée Films (Nicolas Elghozi, Morgane Olivier) and Rediance Films (MengXie). Films Boutique has international sales.