The Trees in Sweetie(1989)

In this movie, sweetie(1989), trees are of great importance.

They were important to the characters: to Kay, trees scared her; to the mother, trees represented hopes; to sweetie, the tree-house used to be her palace, which was her exclusive use; and to Luis, the baby elder was planned to grow for him and his girlfriend. Those trees were real trees, tangible trees.

But there were abstract trees, which held symbolic meaning.

From the experience of Kay, Tree was an omen.

Kay disliked trees from the very start. At the beginning of the movie, it was clearly stated that trees scared Kay, and it seemed to have hidden powers. Her being afraid of trees ought to be traced back to her childhood, when she was neglected by her parents, especially the father, because of her outstanding sister, sweetie. Therefore, actually sweetie was the source of Kay’s nightmare.

Later, trees had Kay and Luis get together. Kay was superstitious and believed in the tea-leaf future telling. In the prophecy, she was predicted to have a man on whose face there was a question mark. Tea was plant, too. That’s why I drew the connection between the trees and the prophecy.

13 months after their being together, the baby elder, which was planned to grow for the future family, triggered the split up between the couple. Kay disagreed with Luis’s plan and she made excuses such as the roots would damage the house and it would cost fortune, which didn’t make sense enough to Luis. Thus the communication was blocked. Kay indeed feared the tree, so she went out at midnight, stole the tree and hid it in the wardrobe. Shivering all over, she came back, slept separately with Luis, which was the start of their widening distance from then on. They made attempts to get back to normal but in vain. Kay tried to comfort Luis in the kitchen after explaining her sleeping separately, but Luis rejected her. Luis opened the door to see if Kay remained outside after the goodnight kiss, but he missed the chance because Kay didn’t linger that long. After making the appointment to have sex, it seemed to me that Luis attempted to kiss her goodbye, which was declined for Kay was afraid of being seen. What’s more, they didn’t have sex. Things turned out to be awkward. Being a couple without having sex, they were at a loss and even made up such excuses that they were out of that phase and in no need of sex. To Kay, who dreaded trees, the root of their tragedy must be the tree, the baby elder.

Unfortunately, things got worse: sweetie broke into Kay’s home, being uninvited. I linked trees to sweetie for good reasons: sweetie was a member of the family, being part of the family tree; also, she was the tree that scared Kay, who thought sweetie was a “dark spirit”. Sweetie was the omen, and was the baby elder with leaves yellow and sick. She was mentally ill. She caused troubles to Kay, who suffered from her since the childhood, then hated her as a matter of fact. Luis was different: he showed sympathy to sweetie. In many occasions, Luis protected sweetie from her sister, Kay, who was his dear girlfriend. In the scene where sweetie really “do something” by swallowing Kay’s collection of horses, Luis appeared specially cold and cruel to Kay. “Go on, you’d better go.” His tone was indifferent and hurting, as if Kay was the outsider. It’s natural that Kay developed a stronger detest toward sweetie, who had once caught all the attention from the father, and now seized the tenderness from Luis. The worst enemy stole everything from Kay. The relationship of the couple got even worse. At last, Luis found out about the baby elder, and left. “it’s not just the plant,” he murmured, “you are abnormal, you can’t even let a little plant live.” This “little plant” not only indicated the baby elder which was “killed” by Kay, but also Kay’s sister, sweetie. To Luis, Kay was a pretty cruel sister, who disliked her own sister and treated her as sternly as possible. Kay once said: “She was just born. I don’t have anything to do with her.” Kay once cursed her, humiliated her and even beat her. All those tings seemed very abnormal to Luis. Just like the little plant, sweetie was ill-treated by Kay. Obviously, sweetie brought domestic problems into the family.

Tree was an omen.

Except the baby elder, the other very prominent tree was the one that stuck out from the side and couldn’t let the coffin down. Sweetie died, and the tree curse broke. But still, trees existed as they did before. “Trees never seem to leave us alone.” Kay thought. After her sweetie’s death, she understood. Trees never bothered them, like they never left them. There was no need to fear trees, and likewise no need to hate sweetie. Kay loved sweetie, after all they were sisters.

Kay got back to her place, surprised to find Luis, who also mended the horses broken by sweetie. I think they would go back normal and be happier than before. The tree omen disappeared.

With a closer look at the movie, I found trees everywhere. Even the patterns on the carpet were flowers. Forget about the omen, trees never left them alone.

Source

Sweetie. Screenplay by Gerard Lee and Jane Campion.Dir. Jane Campion.Perf. Genevieve Lemon, Karen Colston and Tom Lycos. Arenafilm, 1989.