There goes the neighbourhood

It’s tough to enjoy this movie when there is nobody relatable to cheer for

Iceland’s submission to last year’s foreign-language Oscars is a jet-black comedy about getting along with your neighbours and your spouse. The moral of the story would seem to be: Or else.

In one thread of writer-director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s story, an older married couple get into a feud with their neighbours over the overly shady tree in their back yard. Inga doesn’t want to trim it. Baldvin doesn’t care, but it’s easier to stand with his wife than gainsay her. The neighbours make a

stink, and things start to escalate: tires are slashed; someone’s pet goes missing.

Meanwhile, the couple’s son Atli is in trouble with his wife, who found him up one night watching an explicit video he made with an old girlfriend. Caught in the middle is their young daughter, and a lot of bemused coworkers, kindergarten teachers and tenants as the couple drags their argument into various inappropriate venues.

Under the Tree was something of a festival darling in 2017, but it’s tricky to root for a film when you can’t easily root for even one of its characters. Atli seems wilfully blind to the notion that he’s done anything wrong, while the tree-squabblers never take a single step back.

Atli’s put-upon wife and child, various animals and the titular foliage prove the most sympathetic.

A subplot about Atli’s missingand-presumed-dead brother helps explain if not excuse some of Inga’s transgressions, but can’t generate sufficient ardour for this arbour.