Silent Friend

Play trailer

1:56

Silent Friend

Now Playing

2h 25m

Drama

History

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

64 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. This silent witness has observed over a century the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives. 2020, a neuroscientist from Hong Kong, exploring the mind of babies, begins an unexpected experiment with the old tree. 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by the simple act of observing and connecting with a geranium. 1908, the university’s first female student discovers, through the lens of photography, sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. We follow their clumsy, awkward attempts to connect -- each one of them deeply rooted in their own present - as they are transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature. The ancient ginkgo tree brings us closer to what it means to be human -- to our longing to belong.

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

Critics Consensus

Surveying the natural world and the people who wander through it with generous empathy, Silent Friend is one of writer-director Idikó Enyedi's most lyrical and profound efforts yet.

Read Critics Reviews

Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List (Substack)

May 26

3.5/4

Silent Friend is long at 2 1/2 hours, but it's a movie to slow down your rhythms for and breathe in through your pores.

Go to Full Review

Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

May 21

4/5

A sincere and searching work -- even trippy, in discrete doses -- Silent Friend takes the ginkgo’s perspective. It’s in it for the long haul. The people are just passing through.

Go to Full Review

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

May 18

Hardly anything is overdone here and, in one essential way, Enyedi is also making the case for movies themselves as phenomena to protect and treasure: ecosystems of light, texture, wonder and nourishment.

Go to Full Review

Maxance Vincent

Awards Radar

8h

2.5/4

The images Enyedi visualizes are so powerful that one leaves the cinema with a sense of renewal, especially as Dr. Wong learns more about himself and humanity’s intrinsic nature.

Go to Full Review

Sarah Vincent

Sarah G Vincent Views

6d

the film would have been better if Enyedi did not start wondering into sci-fi territory and tackled her subject head on without making it so approachable.

Go to Full Review

James Verniere

Boston Movie News

Jun 11

A-

At the center of these interweaving lives and their rivers of time stands the tree, a magnificent, real-life Yggdrasil.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Margaret

May 30

Gorgeous movie full of symbolism and striking imagery. The cast/acting is exceptional as is the writing and music. The one tiny beef I have is the sound editing and how the plant sound effects (showing their sped up growth) was too much - same sounds but quieter would have been more effective imo. But that's nitpicking, and no reason to skip this film. It's about life and what it means to be alive, and it's brilliant. See it!

See more

Melissa

May 17

A movie with a grand theory about what unites us to the world around us. I dont think it really delivers on that theory and they kind of just stay theoretical.

See more

Danielle B

@RT60291088 6d

one of my top ten of all time! while watching, i kept exclaiming "wow' and "good goddess lordy lordy"…seriously a must-see. if it doesn't grab you at the 20 min mark, then it's not for youi.

See more

Kathleen O

Jun 2

Three stories with one thing in common: a 200 year old gingko tree on the campus of a German university. Superficial treatment of a fascinating and emerging field of study. Beautiful to look at, but could have used a tougher editor.

See more

Michael S.

@Mikhail13 Jun 2

4.5 stars Especially appreciated the featured plants in the closing credits and Blixa Bargeld delivering the final song before the end credits

See more

mohammad rezaa N

@RT85889734 May 31

I’ve warned myself a hundred times not to watch European films anymore (except British and Danish ones), and yet I made the same mistake again. This is a two-and-a-half-hour German movie about a tree that three generations have emotional memories with, while a Chinese university professor tries to prove that the tree has feelings and can communicate with humans — apparently without anyone smoking glass beforehand. The film shows people climbing the tree for years, throwing up on it, having sex next to it, and so on. The professor even strips completely naked at one point because he believes the tree is female. European cinema is completely lost — especially French cinema, which has become obsessed with woke ideology, anti-cinema nonsense, and what they proudly call "breaking structures." I watched this on fast-forward and kept skipping scenes. Managed to reduce the suffering to about one hour.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Ildikó Enyedi

Director

Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Actor

Luna Wedler

Actor

Enzo Brumm

Actor

Sylvester Groth

Actor

Martin Wuttke

Actor

Silent Friend: Trailer 1

1:56

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

In the heart of a botanical garden in a medieval university town in Germany stands a majestic ginkgo tree. This silent witness has observed over a century the quiet rhythms of transformation across three human lives. 2020, a neuroscientist from Hong Kong, exploring the mind of babies, begins an unexpected experiment with the old tree. 1972, a young student is profoundly changed by the simple act of observing and connecting with a geranium. 1908, the university’s first female student discovers, through the lens of photography, sacred patterns of the universe hidden within the humblest of plants. We follow their clumsy, awkward attempts to connect -- each one of them deeply rooted in their own present - as they are transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature. The ancient ginkgo tree brings us closer to what it means to be human -- to our longing to belong.

Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Producer: Reinhard Brundig, Mónika Mécs, Nicolas Elghozi, Meng Xie
Screenwriter: Ildikó Enyedi
Distributor: 1-2 Special
Production Co: Pandora Film, Inforg-M&M Film, Galatée Films, Rediance
Genre: Drama, History
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): May 8, 2026, Limited
Runtime: 2h 25m