By Adam Rabiner
Not Since My Dinner with Andre have I heard this much conversation in a movie. But while Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn rambled about theater and the nature of life, the monomaniacal focus in Portrait of a Garden is gardening and agriculture. The conversationalists are sixty-something Daan van de Have, garden boss and owner of an estate that goes back to 1630 and his 85 year old friend, employee, and tutor of 23 years, pruning master and chief gardener, Jan Frerites. While Rosie Stapel’s debut feature documentary was filmed over four years, it appears to take place over a single twelve month span. The film is organized like a calendar, opening in early January with the two snipping away at an espalier growing flat along a wall. They are following “the rules of reasoned pruning,” (la taille raisonnée) developed by Louis XIV’s Versaille gardeners.
While they cut, they casually talk shop (in Dutch, with English subtitles). Jan, an author of several books on horticulture that reflect his obsession with preserving knowledge, explains that pruning is all about maintaining the proper balance between growth, fertility, and the quality of the harvest. “Every kilo of apples is at the expense of a meter of shoot growth.”
This initial small talk sets the tone for the film. In the ensuing months, each of which chronologically introduces one of the film’s 12 chapters, the two engage in an endless discussion over repetitive rounds of pruning, thinning, weeding, and clipping the plants, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables that, like young children, require constant and steadfast attention. Indeed, as the two discuss a particular mulberry bush’s growth and response to an earlier round of pruning, they sound like proud parents boasting about a child. Daan admits that much of what he has learned in the garden has influenced how he runs his business and raised his family.
While not every viewer will share the pair’s fascination with gardening, the master and the willing apprentice are clearly enthralled.
Daan: “Don’t we have anything more important to do than thinning out plums?”
Jan: “Like what?” (Laughter).
Daan: “Exactly.”
Another organizing feature of the film is displaying the full names of every single one of the numerous botanical life forms under cultivation; and there are some doozies: Swiss Chard (Vulcan), Parsley (Italian Giant), Celery (Tango), Cucumber (Tyria), Brussel Sprouts (Clodio), Tomato (Sparta), Endive (Nuance), Lemon (Villa Franca), Lime (Tahiti), etc.
Using the fleeting months as an organizing principle, draws attention to the passing of time as seasons change but also its cyclicality and scarcity (effects such as slow and fast motion and fade ins and outs, as well as the film’s full title, further draw out this theme). Jan, in particular, is keenly aware of how precious each hour is.
Reminiscing about the day he and Daan met 23 years ago, and the derelict state of the buildings and grounds, he confesses he underestimated the labor involved and is disappointed that it has taken so long to establish the garden’s current condition. At another point he confesses “one bout of flu and that’s the end of me.”
While Jan and Daan are singularly focused on and spend most of their time together discussing the specific techniques and skills necessary for a particular plant to thrive, occasionally their chats drift to the familiar themes of our Plow to Plate series. But the snippets of talk that stand out are those that express their close friendship forged over countless seasons and their heartfelt appreciation of nature that extends beyond the earth they stand on and work with, as when Daan asks, “Don’t the clouds look wonderful Jan, as they race across the sky, don’t you think?”
“Yes.”
Portrait of a Garden is also a moving portrait of a friendship.
Not Since My Dinner with Andre have I heard this much conversation in a movie. But while Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn rambled about theater and the nature of life, the monomaniacal focus in Portrait of a Garden is gardening and agriculture. The conversationalists are sixty-something Daan van de Have, garden boss and owner of an estate that goes back to 1630 and his 85 year old friend, employee, and tutor of 23 years, pruning master and chief gardener, Jan Frerites. While Rosie Stapel’s debut feature documentary was filmed over four years, it appears to take place over a single twelve month span. The film is organized like a calendar, opening in early January with the two snipping away at an espalier growing flat along a wall. They are following “the rules of reasoned pruning,” (la taille raisonnée) developed by Louis XIV’s Versaille gardeners.
While they cut, they casually talk shop (in Dutch, with English subtitles). Jan, an author of several books on horticulture that reflect his obsession with preserving knowledge, explains that pruning is all about maintaining the proper balance between growth, fertility, and the quality of the harvest. “Every kilo of apples is at the expense of a meter of shoot growth.”
This initial small talk sets the tone for the film. In the ensuing months, each of which chronologically introduces one of the film’s 12 chapters, the two engage in an endless discussion over repetitive rounds of pruning, thinning, weeding, and clipping the plants, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables that, like young children, require constant and steadfast attention. Indeed, as the two discuss a particular mulberry bush’s growth and response to an earlier round of pruning, they sound like proud parents boasting about a child. Daan admits that much of what he has learned in the garden has influenced how he runs his business and raised his family.
While not every viewer will share the pair’s fascination with gardening, the master and the willing apprentice are clearly enthralled.
Daan: “Don’t we have anything more important to do than thinning out plums?”
Jan: “Like what?” (Laughter).
Daan: “Exactly.”
Another organizing feature of the film is displaying the full names of every single one of the numerous botanical life forms under cultivation; and there are some doozies: Swiss Chard (Vulcan), Parsley (Italian Giant), Celery (Tango), Cucumber (Tyria), Brussel Sprouts (Clodio), Tomato (Sparta), Endive (Nuance), Lemon (Villa Franca), Lime (Tahiti), etc.
Using the fleeting months as an organizing principle, draws attention to the passing of time as seasons change but also its cyclicality and scarcity (effects such as slow and fast motion and fade ins and outs, as well as the film’s full title, further draw out this theme). Jan, in particular, is keenly aware of how precious each hour is.
Reminiscing about the day he and Daan met 23 years ago, and the derelict state of the buildings and grounds, he confesses he underestimated the labor involved and is disappointed that it has taken so long to establish the garden’s current condition. At another point he confesses “one bout of flu and that’s the end of me.”
While Jan and Daan are singularly focused on and spend most of their time together discussing the specific techniques and skills necessary for a particular plant to thrive, occasionally their chats drift to the familiar themes of our Plow to Plate series. But the snippets of talk that stand out are those that express their close friendship forged over countless seasons and their heartfelt appreciation of nature that extends beyond the earth they stand on and work with, as when Daan asks, “Don’t the clouds look wonderful Jan, as they race across the sky, don’t you think?”
“Yes.”
Portrait of a Garden is also a moving portrait of a friendship.