The Shyness of Trees

CinemaSerf

January 18, 2026

7/10

I’m not so sure the English language title does this any favours, but it’s still a very touching look at age and grief, all wrapped up in the tale of “Hélène” who goes to visit her ailing mother at her countryside home. Her arrival gives her cause for concern as the garden and the houde are untypically unkempt. Then when she starts to chat with her mum she notices a distinct change in her behaviour. A distance, a reticence even, as if she is focussing on something else. On somewhere else. There …