The Willow Tree (2005) User Reviews

2005 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)

[Jamester · 8/10 · 17 September 2005]

I saw this at the 2005 TIFF to a packed audience.

This was an eye-opening movie in a couple ways.

Not only is this drama about a blind Iranian man who unexpectedly comes upon sight during a routine eye operation in Paris, but it opened my eyes to the value of sight in life.

The main character in this movie has been living life without sight for 38 years, so much so that we see the habits, the challenges, the braille reading, and the support his friends and family give him and which he is subtly dependent upon. Yet when this miraculous chance to see gives him, shall we say, a second chance, what does he do with it? In fact what would anyone do with it? What I liked most about this was that the challenge posed to the lead character and the choices he made were so very real with the challenges and dilemma of his choices and frustration clear. This made me consider the choices *I* have been making in life. If I were given a second chance with anything, what would *I* do with it? This was a thought-provoking movie that took me into a world I have never experienced. And while I have seen movies about blind people, this movie really seemed to capture the view of life from this particular blind man: his challenges; his decisions; and most importantly, his emotional state.

This is a smart and very real movie that was moving, thought-provoking. Visually speaking, the weaving of light with dark scenes allows the story to further come to life giving a final illumination on a story that shares, sympathizes and delivers.

This is a well-done piece of work! Congratulations!

Look within to find your true vision

[corrosion-2 · 8/10 · 4 September 2005]

This film can be described as a companion piece to Majidi's highly acclaimed Color of Paradise. In that movie, in which a father saw his blind son as a burden and not as a blessing, we (& eventually the father) began to "see" the world from the blind boy's view and in doing so saw a much richer, meaningful world. Here, the characters of the father and the son are embodied in a single person: Yusef who after 38 years of being blind regains his sight. What he sees, however, is quite different to what he "saw" as a blind man, and not necessarily more beautiful or rewarding. Majidi takes the viewer to a higher, more spiritual world and in doing so creates another masterpiece. Majidi's movies are visually stunning and have such a profound effect on the viewer that when we leave the cinema, we see the world in a different light. Parviz Parastoui, one of the best actors in the Iranian cinema and theatre, is outstanding as Yusef. Also worth mentioning is Mahmood Kelari's exceptional photography. As in all Majidi films, there are scenes which will stay with you long after the movie is over.

When a blessing becomes a curse

[Buddy-51 · 8/10 · 24 March 2010]

In the lyrical and touching Iranian drama "The Willow Tree," a middle-aged college professor, blind since the age of eight, regains his sight after undergoing a cornea transplant.

Through the years, Yusef has learned to function in a world of darkness. He even long ago stopped blaming God for his condition (he went blind while playing with firecrackers as a boy). Having made his peace with his situation, Yusef is now suddenly confronted with the unforeseen mixed blessing of regaining his sight. On the one hand, he yearns to be able to once again behold the vast and myriad beauties of the visual world; on the other, he risks losing the sense of security and comfort that comes from living in a world that is real and familiar to him.

Director Majid Majidi captures some of the visual sensory overload Yusef experiences when he is once again reunited with the sighted world, which includes seeing his wife and young daughter for the first time. And how will the change in his condition affect the couple's relationship - the roles each of them plays within that relationship, and the ways in which they interact with one another? For now that he is no longer dependent on others to get around and is free to do things on his own, Yusef begins to press against the tightly-bound parameters of his heavily circumscribed life, falling for a beautiful young student in one of his classes and becoming less willing to play the part of the uncomplaining, long-suffering victim to please his wife and mother who have found their own purpose and meaning in taking care of him all these years. Then Fate plays a cruel trick on him, making him realize that he can never be fully happy in either state of sightedness (Majidi doesn't cater to his audience's desire for an uplifting, happy ending).

To emphasize the way in which Yousef experiences the world, the movie features a hyper-sensitive soundtrack filled with the amplified sounds of birds chirping, water gurgling, leaves rustling, raindrops falling, etc. The only real disappointment is the musical score, which is often lugubrious, soupy and overly-emphatic.

Much of "The Willow Trees"'s success can be attributed to Parviz Parastui's subtle and wide-ranging performance in the lead role. As Yusef, Parastui runs the gamut from submissive introvert to railing despondent without hitting a single false note at either end.

Willow tree Iranian movie a great one to see!

[ramesh-17 · 3 August 2007]

A very good movie. The actors and the director have done an awesome job. The photography is pure poetry. The places and the locations are very evocative. The story is very deep. It makes you see the world with totally different eyes. A simple plot of a blind man regaining his sight is turned into into a masterpiece of emotions. Some scenes in the movie are really powerful and are there to stay within you, deep inside. Yusef the hero of the film is a strong character. Depite his blindness, as a professor he has done a lot and won the respect and the hearts of the people. But when he gets his sights back the world around him is totally different and he struggles even more. He is not able to cope with what he sees and his image of his wife and the family and his mother all confuse him. He finds his friends wife attractive and becomes obsessed with meeting her and hearing her voice etc. The scenes depicting Yusef's desires and the confusion are a marvel in direction and acting. There are some over dramatic elements in this movie that could have been avoided but even those scenes have a point in touching the viewer a bit deep and making the point. All in All a superb film. Makes one wonder

To see God through one's own blind eyes

[leoperu · 7/10 · 15 March 2013]

I found "Beed-e majnoon", the younger, but in form and content more adult and restrained sibling of the famous "Rang-e khoda", very good, despite some minor flaws. But by chance, I did not enjoy it as much as I might have, because its heart, so to say, was revealed to me years ago through a chapter in "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek", a small book of essays by Annie Dillard. I would like to embrace this opportunity and recommend it to any reader of this who is not yet familiar with it and would feel concerned. A couple of pages where the author depicts the inner world of the blind who have regained their sight touched me deeply and for good. Thus I can't but look upon Majidi's film rather as an illustration to Dillard's essay than as an independent work of art. This is of course a subjective attitude not fair to the movie, since it offers much more than what's inherent in "Pilgrim". Apart from its obvious religious value which is something I can hardly judge (who else than "The Film Sufi" should know better ?), "Beed-e majnoon" is rewarding and inspiring from both psychological a philosophical point of view, let alone its visual beauty. Although New Yorker Video did their best to conceal it in their inferior non-anamorphic transfer, it still shines - as early as in the quasi-mirroring calligraphy of the opening titles. The image of our hero staring at his mirror self emerging in the glass door ; another one letting him slowly fade in the rearview mirror of his wife's car ; the whole sequence at the airport - not one of the following scenes, for me, could match this one ....

Speaking about blindness as a theme for filmmakers, there's one more work to be recommended : Werner Herzog's early documentary about deaf and blind people in Bavaria "Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit". In short : a harrowing and enlightening experience !

Beed e majnoon

[martonejames · 10/10 · 21 January 2007]

I have been deeply moved by "The Willow Tree," which I saw this evening as part of an Iranian film series at the Freer Gallery in Washington DC. I am not sure that any Western culture could ever produce something as beautiful, but I hope all westerners see it. It has impressed positively and permanently. I was most moved by the scene of the hero coming back to Iran, and seeing his mother, and then again, when the mother comes to his house after his wife has left. The most beautiful, was our hero looking for the papers in the pond, and finding that special one. The ending is magnificent, as it allows us to ponder which is better, to continue blind, or be blessed again with sight. But in either case he seems condemned. Thank you. James

A cautionary note

[cetaylor3 · 7/10 · 13 September 2023]

I had seen both Children of Heaven and Color of Paradise years ago and thoroughly valued them and remembered Majidi as a director whose films touch me. So i brought that background to choosing and seeing The Willow Tree tonight. And i share the respect for the acting and directing that is already voiced here - by a relatively few number of reviewers (as imdb reviews go).

But I write to convey something I felt strongly that no other reviewer seemed to be hit by in the same way.

And here begin the spoilers.

It's been a long long time since I saw a film with such a downward spiral by the chief protagonist that accelerates unrelentingly to the finale. Some might see the very last minute of the film as ambiguous as to whether the protagonist is headed for falling further or rising like a phoenix. I did not see ambiguity nor phoenix-rising; to me it was depiction of a destiny that was a depressing path to witness. (The ant resurfacing in the last shot was surprisingly blatant - my quibble with one directorial choice - but if Majidi wanted that resurrection shot to convey an echo/symbol of a second start, that wasn't a credible hook to hang any hope on in my 'read'; it was more of a blatant bookend to second chances.) Writing a plot in which a chief protagonist descends into bitterness that becomes self-sabotage is a tough watch. Imho.

(I see and highly rate many a film that deals with depressing circumstances, but not in memory with such a straight slide downhill to The End.)

My (much older but close) brother was blind, coincidentally also from age 8, not from firecrackers but from scarlet fever, years before I was born (although he would tell me during 4th of July fireworks that it was the rare thing he could perceive as an awareness of light flashes). And through the first third of the film, I could relate to the protagonist, having grown up myself with braille books and seeing-eye dog as part of family life. My brother never thought of himself as 'handicapped' (he was an Eagle Scout, he made furniture as a hobby, etc) and more to the point he was upbeat - until another medical crisis befell him by the time he was a father of three and stole his life at age 41, way too young.

I share this in part because it may have impacted how i saw the last two-thirds of this film, which i *couldn't* relate to personally from my own life because my brother never regained eyesight - and also never became bitter or self-sabotaging in such a way. Again, it was a tough watch imho.

The film is well made, well acted. I just write to say that it has a far tougher message than, say, Children of Heaven or Color of Paradise.

A Nutshell Review: The Willow Tree

[DICK STEEL · 9/10 · 20 August 2007]

Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, and us mortal man have absolutely no idea what to make of it, opting for the most parts to blame the big guy when things don't go our way, only to find out that the fault lies in ourselves. No, I'm not suddenly pious and wanting to spread the word, but Majid Majidi's The Willow Tree evoked such a feeling and reminder to myself, that it's always so easy to blame "somebody else", even though that someone could be the guy up there.

I haven't seen much of Majid Majidi's works, but from what I have in just Children of Heaven, and now The Willow Tree, I can't wait to watch a whole lot more. The stories might seem simple - few key characters (lovable too I might add), gorgeously shot, and you might think you have the plot all wrapped up, there's always this beauty in the simplicity of it all, and its powerful underlying message ever so subtle, in no way sledge-hammering itself on you at all. Somehow I feel that there's so much enveloping the movie, that I'm simply amazed at how they are all packaged together in a nicely paced movie, without the need to be butt- numbing.

Youssef (Parviz Parastui) is a blind university professor, who spends his time playing with his young daughter, and has his wife assist him with his work. From the onset, it's a happy little family, except that Youssef has a dream, that he could one day regain his sight and see again. Sometimes I wonder if able folks like us take things for granted naturally, and if only we lose it, do we start appreciating and missing something at all. Majid has for the first minute placed us in Youssef's shoes, and listening to his innermost thoughts and dreams, one ponders.

While faith is important, and I would think if I were in Youssef's shoes, I would also choose to turn to religion as a pillar of strength, there's this little warning of being careful with what you wish for, as sometimes, what you think is best for yourself, isn't true at all. If you made promises to the big man, make sure you can fulfill those promises, and not let it ring empty. We follow Youssef's journey and understand his fears, frustrations and hopes, coupled with his fall from grace and redemption. The Willow Tree leaves things wide open, but you can only hope for the best. I like the way how Youssef is forced to choose, and I actually felt pity for the guy as he loses himself, like the saying goes, because of his straying eye. I wonder too, if our gift of sight somehow will sometimes be the attributing factor, or seed the beginnings of mistrust, just because our eye sees something that our minds interpret differently, or fantasize.

And the movie couldn't work without the excellent soundtrack, or the commanding performance by the lead Parviz Parastui. He has one one hand made Youssef a likable fellow, yet managed in the same movie to make us despise his actions, with a tinge of pity, and at times, just wanting to slap him out of his arrogance. It's been a long while since I actually cared for a character, and want to reach out to him - as the bystanders usually have the better view of any situation - and to direct him, just as how you would a blind person, to avoid the pitfalls that seem set to dawn on him.

At another level, The Willow Tree has indeed opened my eyes to more of Iran, instead of those ra-ra sanctions filled news bulletins demonizing the country as a whole. I thought that through film, I see a little more of a country caught on celluloid, depicting the same hopes, dreams, and even challenges that folks in the country grapple with too. And with such intelligent stories from their filmmakers, you wonder about their rich culture, and also realize that you don't need big sets and big moments to create an impact - the little things in life that you can put into stories to tell, work just as majestically.

The histrionics of Youssef, with regained sight, makes the otherwise lovely film flounder

[JuguAbraham · 7/10 · 22 July 2020]

Begins well. Ends well. The histrionics of the lead character Youssef in the mid-section make the film flounder. The actress Roya Temourian (playing the loyal wife Roya) is beautiful and a delight to watch on screen in this film, though unrecognizable in her recent photographs.

Youssef's sudden interest in Pari and a beautiful woman in a train is both understandable and Quixotic.

The pact with his Creator for regaining sight is interestingly discussed and captured.

Unforgettable film

[carl-205 · 9/10 · 24 September 2006]

Cinema began as a purely visual medium. The shock and fright that the Lumière brothers caused in their virgin audience came about because seeing the world through the lens of a camera is like seeing for the first time—witness Dziga Vertov's 1929 paean to the new medium, Man With a Movie Camera, and you get a sense of this fascination. Thus, film is perfectly suited to director Majid Majidi's exploration in The Willow Tree of a blind man regaining his sight. After a quietly foreboding passage of voice-over, the movie opens its eyes on a scene of sylvan innocence, with a father and his young daughter racing sticks down a stream. We soon learn that the father, Youssef, a university professor, is blind. At home, his wife, Roya, sits and translates pages of texts into Braille for him. When he sits down to read them in his courtyard, a sudden gust of wind blows them away and Roya has to scramble across the garden to retrieve them, while Youssef grasps desperately at whatever he can feel near him. He is cared for, he is loved, and loves in return but we are given a sense of his dependence, his powerlessness in the face of nature's occasional rushes. Having flown to Paris to treat a possible cancer under his eye, he undergoes a cornea transplant that should restore his sight, which he lost when he was 8 years old. In a tremulously powerful section of the movie, Youssef impatiently peels back the padding around his eyes to the shocking sensation of light. Still with the carefully lifted feet of a blind man, he pads excitedly into the hospital corridor as a single tear of blood falls from his still- scarred eyes. It is a moment of subtle horror—after all, a new sense is terrifying. The Willow Tree is unrelenting cinema. It challenges our notion of perception and gives us the visceral rush of seeing as though for the first time. When Youssef returns to Iran he is greeted by a crowd of family and friends. In a scene that will stay with me for a very long time, the soundtrack drops away as Youssef looks at these faces without recognition—which one is Roya? Is it the beautiful young woman with the video camera? Youssef hopes so. And there is the tragedy—with all this renewed sensation, the reference points of the past need to be realigned, the world which satisfies the other senses might not satisfy the eyes, and in that moment at the airport, Majidi brings to bear both the revelatory joy of the new and the plummeting realisation of how much was lacking before. As Youssef, Parviz Parastui is astonishing. It is his performance, as well as that of Afarin Obeisi as his mother, that lifts The Willow Tree above anyone reproaching it with sentimentality. It is a deeply religious film, in the best sense of the word—a moral fable that is not moralistic.

Thought provoking...

[k-khoshroo · 8/10 · 3 September 2020]

When ecstasy and pure joy turn into bitterness, resentment, confusion; when you're disgusted and confused by your past life, and the new one's too foreign and strange; when you don't belong anywhere, and your sense of self is compromised, what else is there left to do?

Give me another chance, Mister Hunter. I am just a fawn born in this mountain...

[elsinefilo · 23 August 2009]

Majid Majidi's Willow Tree tells the story of Yusuf (Parvis Parastui) who was blinded in a fireworks accident when he was eight. Though he has been deprived of light and brightness for so long, he has a lovable, caring wife and a lovely daughter. After 38 years of blindness, Yusuf has a tumor beneath his eye so he goes to a Paris clinic to get some tests. Doctors do a several tests and they do cornea transplant on his eyes. The man who has lived in darkness and gloom for so long can't wait for the bandages to be taken off in the morning and he removes them himself.After his eyes catch the light the first thing he enjoys watching is an ant carrying a tiny bit of food across the window bar which is actually a diligent worker, a servant of God which can carry something as big as itself and never protests and surrenders to its role that is cut out for itself. Parvis Parastui's performance as Yusuf who walks in a gleeful hesitation, in an unsteady childish hobbling down the hospital corridor without needing anyone for the first time after 38 years,is just a cinematic tour-de-force which can't be forgotten easily. After he is back in Iran Yusus tries to grapple with the new life he asked from God. Apparently his small paradise of four trees and a house is shattered by the perceptional difference he has seen in the real world and the understanding,thankful,spiritually protected world he had himself with God. The temptation creeps in and the serenity he had in his gloom disappears.He feels attracted to Peri (Leila Otadi), his uncle's young,ravishing,stunning wife.With a transformed sense of moral obligation,another day he overlooks a pickpocket snatching somebody's wallet in a public transport vehicle. Yusuf who seem to have lost all his connection with his God, with his comparative serenity estranges his caring wife and dear mother too.All alone,while his eyes starting not to respond to the transplantation he seems to have lost his sight again. He gets a letter from his the man he met at the clinic in Paris,A man who was gradually losing his sight because of some shrapnel in his head from the Iraq/Iran war. In the letter says the man: "Tell me what's worth seeing and I'll tell you what's not worth seeing.Ever since I've practiced not seeing, I've seen many wonderful things. How much have you been seeing? Are your eyes satisfied? Did you see the willow tree? I'd like to know if it still brings you luck?" Embittered by his own transformation, Yusuf finds the note he put between the pages of the Masnavi (by Rumi)on which he wrote:

""I'm the one you deprived of the beauties of the world and who never complained. Instead of light and brightness, I lived in darkness and gloom and I didn't protest. I found happiness and peace in this small paradise. Are all these years of suffering not enough that you now want to cause me even more suffering? Will I come back from this trip to my loving family? Will this illness bring me to my knees? To whom should I complain about what you are doing to me? I beg of you to show me more compassion. Don't take my life away."

Knowing that his biggest mistake was not knowing God well, he asks for a new chance hoping that God has not crossed him off his own book of compassion book and the diligent worker ant reappears. Majid Majidi could be a great director indeed but what you will remember after seeing this movie will be the unforgettable performance of Parvis Parastui overshadowing everyone else about this movie.

Completely original and heart-felt

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 12 January 2010]

A blind Iranian professor is sent to France to get an operation for a small tumor under his eye. Fortunately, it turns out to be benign and the doctors are surprised to see that in addition to removing the tumor, they think they might be able to restore his sight---which he lost when he was 8 years-old! When he returns home, he can see and is met by a huge group of people who welcome him and celebrate his new sight. Despite being a relatively small scene, it is one of the more touching I have ever seen. You can't help but feel wonderful for the man and seeing his crying at the reception is a terrific scene. I was impressed by the actor, Parviz Parastui, in how he handled this scene...with only uttering a single word. It's a fabulous scene--and worth seeing the movie just for this--however, there is still an hour left in the film at this point. Interestingly, however, what happens next was totally unexpected. It seems that making the transition to his old life is NOT as easy as it initially seemed. See the film yourself to see what I mean.

Like other Majidi films, this one has a lovely directorial touch to it. Great cinematography, fitting and evocative music and a focus on simple folks--all what I've come to expect from his films. While this film is not one of my favorites Majidi films like COLOR OF PARADISE and CHILDREN OF HEAVEN, it is so completely original and heart-felt that I strongly suggest you see it--even though it is not one of his "feel good" films when all is said and done.

This is an interesting topic for director Majid Majidi. That's because although he's only made a few full-length films, this is the second one he made where the leading character is blind (the other being the amazing must-see film, THE COLOR OF PARADISE). Because this is a familiar theme, I'd love to know if this is a topic that is near to him--perhaps he has a blind family member or friend--though neither his web site nor IMDb could shed any light on this for me. If you have any idea why he came back to this topic, I'd love to know.

UPDATE: Since I first reviewed the film, I have found myself recommending it so many times and thinking about it so much that my original score of 8 seems low, and have recently changed the rating to 9. Well worth seeing.

The Graph Of A Man. ♦ 84%

[nairtejas · 8/10 · 27 November 2013]

Never have I seen such a topic on-reel. And Majid Majidi does it with finesse, cooked up with traces of sentiments and etching up emotions into a beautiful layer of life lesson.

The Willow Tree talks about a taciturn, blind professor and his lives, before and after a surgery that changes his life forever. Before, he is calm and loving. He loves his family & work. Then comes life values and when God puts him on test, things go pumping and wrecking. What brought luck to him, snatches all his glorious memories and turns him into something he never thought he'd become.

The plot goes heavy on the darker and duller side towards the end, depicting how life can turn upside down, if we slip the path once. Chiefly, it talks about the dangers of life that we want or never ever dreamed of. Lots of thing depicted, lots of things to learn, this film is a perfect blend of life and interpretation. It cannot be debated as to why the divine power creates things as they are and this story gives us a promising insight. Cast is so beautifully active, the message is brightly conveyed. Music is very good.

BOTTOM LINE: Majidi is a master and as like all his films, this one is another feather in his hat.

Profanity/Vulgarity/Sex/Porn: No | Violence: Mediocre | Gore/Alcohol/Smoking: No | Gore: Mediocre