ARTE Distribution

Trees tells the story of a society which is hundreds of millions of years old : Madagascan baobabs, Californian sequoias, date-palms, bristlecone pines and other specimens are minutely scrutinised down to the finest scale of bark.

Sophie Bruneau and Marc-Antoine Roudil set off in search of the trees of the world and return with a rich haul of traveller's tree-tales - long or short, true or fantastical - in a documentary which is at once poetic, educational and contemplative - a superb moment in plant cinema.
Trees tells the story of a society which is hundreds of millions of years old, which is made up of with individuals with widely differing personalities, taking us on a journey through space and time to rediscover the riches of a world we no longer take the time to look at. Madagascan baobabs, Californian sequoias, date-palms, bristlecone pines and other specimens are minutely scrutinised down to the finest scale of bark. They relate their histories (be they truth or fable) from their origins to their premature deaths, their scientific characteristics and their special magic, and explore the ways in which they are different from and similar to human beings. In the course of this voyage of discovery, we encounter some extraordinary characters, including a tree which preserves the imprint of its strangled victim, an acacia which communicates, a tree that walks towards the sea, a shy tree which avoids all contact with others of the same species, a town-dwelling tree and a mad tree. The magic of film brings alive the fantastical elements in our scientific knowledge of trees, and fact metamorphoses into fairy-tale before our very eyes.