More than a touch of poetic magical realism weaves in and out of Dabney Day’s “The Gardener,” opening at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on April 17. Before the narrative begins, we see gorgeous scenes of nature, and a man — possibly the gardener (William Miller) of the film’s title — digging in the rich earth amid overgrown greenery. We hear a woman’s voice reciting the lines that prepare us for what is about to come: “It has been said that in every life there is a season, a time to grow, a time to dance, a time to mourn, and a time to thrive.”
Moments later, we meet the woman behind the voice, Sabena Weathers (Radha Mitchell). She is exiting her chauffeured car and walking decisively into the impressive corporate headquarters of the cosmetics company, By Sabena. Her entrance is swift, efficient, and authoritative, and those around her scurry about as she heads to her office with the same imperial bearing as Miranda Priestly in “The Devil Wears Prada.”
Within seconds, she closes the door. We hear her nasty cough and watch her light a cigarette with a gold lighter. As the phone rings incessantly, the camera pans over a large painting of what we later discover is her father, the company’s founder. When she finally picks up the receiver, a heavily accented French voice asks her something indistinct. “Sabena is not on the market,” she responds dismissively.
“But we have such synergy,” the man’s voice insists.
“No, I understand. Sabena is me. It’s not just a name on a lipstick tube. It’s not about the money … What you would acquire is my life. I have no plans to merge.” It turns out that the leading French cosmetics company in Europe is gunning for a hostile takeover.
Hanging up, Sabena is moving, cigarette in hand. While dominating a photo shoot and shouting orders, she short-temperedly takes a call from her doctor’s office. The next thing we know, she’s undergoing emergency surgery, nearly dying. In a dreamlike sequence, Sabena, wearing a flowing white dress, runs through a bounteous, blooming field, intercut with ominous images of tall skyscrapers and threatening lightning.
Thus, in the first five minutes of the film, we are off and running. As the story unfolds, Sabena is pressured into finding a way to reduce the intensity of her life. During a drive, a piebald raven, which appears auspiciously throughout the film, leads her to a remote mountaintop. There, she discovers an old house, a small cottage, and a lush but long-neglected garden for sale. Much to her own surprise and the astonishment of those at her company, Sabena buys the place.
At first, she simply works tirelessly from her new home, at a risk to her health. When an easygoing, salt-of-the-earth gardener appears, she initially wants nothing to do with him. Their relationship becomes central to the narrative, which has many competing tendrils.
Sabena vacillates between self-growth and attunement to nature and her fierce, hard-edged corporate persona, fighting tenaciously to hold on to the company. As the film proceeds, Sabena’s life is like a neglected garden that needs the soil tilled, rocks overturned, and seeds planted to discover what, if anything, will ultimately bloom.
For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.