Renowned Iranian Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi returns to the global cinematic landscape with his latest feature, Trees are Watching, a 106-minute supernatural drama that interrogates the complex and often fraught relationship between humanity and the natural world. Known internationally for his critically acclaimed and emotionally devastating works such as Turtles Can Fly and A Time for Drunken Horses, Ghobadi uses his new film to venture into the realm of psychological horror rooted deeply in regional Kurdish folklore. Premiering to mixed reactions from critics and audiences alike, the film weaves together themes of ecological destruction, intergenerational trauma, and the supernatural lingering of the dead through the medium of the natural environment.
The film boasts an international ensemble cast led by Eva Green, alongside Murat Yildirim, Lucas Akoskin, Zeynep Çamci, and Neva Kuş. At its core, the narrative follows Darya, an acclaimed novelist portrayed by Green, who returns to her ancestral hometown in southeastern Turkey alongside her deaf daughter, played by Neva Kuş, and the family dog. Darya’s objective is to immerse herself in research for her upcoming book, but her homecoming quickly descends into a harrowing psychological reckoning. She finds herself haunted by childhood memories of twin girls, Nihal and Spin, and the two memorial trees planted in their honor. What begins as an academic pursuit of folklore soon transforms into a confrontation with repressed trauma, manifested physically through the environment and a malevolent, possessed wooden chair.
Background Context and Folklore Foundations
Set against the ancient and visually striking backdrop of Mardin, a city in southeastern Turkey renowned for its distinctive stone architecture and layered cultural history, Trees are Watching operates on a premise heavily informed by regional animist beliefs and local folklore. The narrative’s ideological foundation rests upon the epigraph that introduces the film: the notion that trees are not silent observers, but active entities capable of perceiving, absorbing, and retaining the energy of old spirits. Within the cinematic universe established by Ghobadi, this belief serves as both a metaphysical reality and a metaphorical vehicle for nature’s retribution against mass deforestation and ecological degradation.
The cultural architecture of the film is established in its opening sequences through the perspective of a young Nihal. Raised under the weight of local superstitions, Nihal absorbs the belief that deceased individuals are reincarnated as trees, and concurrently harbors intense anxieties regarding her immediate environment—including a superstitious dread of domestic spaces, specifically believing that household toilets house the reincarnated spirits of malevolent mothers. These early anxieties, viewed with skepticism by her sister Spin and their schoolmate Darya, set the psychological template for the narrative. The isolation and terror experienced by young Nihal create a lingering trauma that reverberates into the adult life of Darya, providing the emotional scaffolding for the film’s exploration of childhood vulnerability and familial dysfunction.
Narrative Chronology and Character Arcs
The structural progression of Trees are Watching is divided between the formative traumas of the past and the contemporary manifestations of those events in Darya’s present-day homecoming. Chronologically, the narrative initiates with the provincial childhood of Nihal and Spin, detailing their precocious maturity amidst the strain of a fractured parental dynamic and oppressive domestic and environmental conditions. The script attempts to ground the supernatural elements in the psychological reality of these children, casting a long shadow that eventually engulfs the adult Darya.
Upon returning to Mardin, Darya seeks to channel her lifelong fascination with the spiritual connection between humans and trees into her writing. However, the physical environment of her childhood resists her attempts at intellectual detachment. The memories of the twin girls, anchored to the memorial trees planted in their memory, bleed directly into her current reality. The narrative’s primary physical antagonist—a possessed wooden chair—serves as the focal point for this haunting. As Darya interacts with the artifact, the film attempts to bridge the gap between tangible domestic objects and supernatural dread, forcing the protagonist to confront the ghosts of her past.
Critical Analysis of Execution and Thematic Delivery
Despite its ambitious conceptual framework, Trees are Watching has drawn a spectrum of critiques regarding its execution, particularly in how it balances deadpan supernatural horror with social messaging. On a technical level, the film excels in establishing atmospheric tension during its opening acts. Ghobadi utilizes subtle camera movements, acoustic soundscapes, and evocative imagery to signal shifts in the environmental energy surrounding the characters. Early sonic design choices effectively mirror the violence of ecological destruction, drawing stark, eerie parallels between the acoustic reality of tree-felling and human screams.
However, critics have noted significant tonal inconsistencies as the narrative progresses. The central conceit of the haunted, moving chair—which shifts from a subtle psychological menace to physically dragging itself across rooms and eventually appearing in a police station for investigation—struggles to maintain its intended dread. The film’s insistence on playing these supernatural occurrences with deadpan seriousness occasionally undercuts the psychological gravity of Darya’s internal conflict. Furthermore, the reliance on conventional horror tropes, such as the heavy-handed use of high-pitched string arrangements, periodically detracts from the originality of the underlying premise.
The film’s exploration of mental illness and familial dynamics has also been a focal point of discussion among reviewers. While the depiction of Nihal’s childhood terror grounds the supernatural elements effectively, the broader societal and psychological commentary occasionally leans into reductive tropes. The characterization of the girls’ mother has been critiqued as a one-dimensional, "evil mother" caricature, which critics argue oversimplifies what could have been a nuanced exploration of intergenerational trauma and maternal mental health.
Performances and Directorial Choices
In evaluating the performances, industry observers have widely praised Eva Green’s commitment to a demanding and occasionally restrictive role. Green manages to anchor the film’s surreal and tragic elements, bringing emotional resonance to Darya’s psychological unravelling. Yet, the film’s narrative trajectory ultimately undercuts the strength of her performance by succumbing in its final act to a conventional "it’s all in her head" psychological twist. This narrative pivot compromises the emotional payoff of the supernatural elements, leaving the connection between ecological folklore and personal grief partially unresolved.
Director Bahman Ghobadi, celebrated for his empathetic and stark portrayals of marginalized communities and difficult environments in his earlier filmography, approaches Trees are Watching with an unyielding artistic vision. By fusing eco-horror with Kurdish oral traditions, Ghobadi attempts to expand the boundaries of regional cinema. Industry analysts observe that while the film’s thematic ambitions—addressing climate anxiety, the sentience of nature, and the persistence of memory—are highly relevant to contemporary discourse, the friction between its arthouse sensibilities and genre conventions creates an uneven viewing experience.
Broader Industry Implications and Outlook
The release of Trees are Watching contributes to a growing body of international cinema that utilizes genre conventions, particularly eco-horror and supernatural drama, to address real-world anxieties surrounding environmental degradation and ecological collapse. By framing deforestation not merely as a political or economic issue, but as a catalyst for spiritual retribution, Ghobadi aligns his work with contemporary movements in ecocriticism and cinema.
As the film completes its festival runs and secures broader distribution channels, its reception highlights the ongoing challenges filmmakers face when translating deeply localized folklore and psychological abstraction into universally resonant cinematic narratives. While the execution may divide audiences—balancing moments of poetic brilliance with tonal missteps—Trees are Watching remains a notable entry in Bahman Ghobadi’s distinguished career, reflecting an artist willing to take structural and thematic risks in exploring the dark intersections of human history and the natural world.
