The Tree of Life (film)
The Tree of Life is a 2011 American epic experimental coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick. Its main cast includes Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Jessica Chastain, and Tye Sheridan in his debut feature film role. The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth.
The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick
- Brad Pitt
- Sean Penn
- Jessica Chastain
- Hank Corwin
- Jay Rabinowitz
- Daniel Rezende
- Billy Weber
- Mark Yoshikawa
- Fox Searchlight Pictures (North America, United Kingdom and Ireland)
- Summit Entertainment (International)[1]
- May 16, 2011 (Cannes)
- May 27, 2011 (United States)
- 139 minutes[2]
United States
English
$32 million[3]
$61.7 million[4]
After several years in development and missing its planned 2009 and 2010 release dates, The Tree of Life premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival,[5] where it was awarded the Palme d'Or. It ranked number one on review aggregator Metacritic's "Film Critic Top Ten List of 2011",[6] and made more critics' year-end lists for 2011 than any other film.[7] It has since been ranked by some publications as one of the greatest films of the 2010s,[8] of the 21st century,[9] and of all time.[10] The Tree of Life received three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In the late 1970s, Terrence Malick was offered $1 million for his project after Days of Heaven. Malick had an idea for a film that would be "a history of the cosmos up through the formation of the Earth and the beginnings of life."[12] The film was known as Q and included elements not in The Tree of Life such as a section set in the Middle East during World War I, and an underwater minotaur dreaming about the evolution of the universe.[13] One day, Malick "just stopped" working on the film.[13]
Decades later, Malick pitched the concept of The Tree of Life to River Road Entertainment head Bill Pohlad while the two were collaborating on an early version of Che. Pohlad recalled initially thinking the idea was "crazy", but as the film concept evolved, he came to feel strongly about the idea;[14] he ended up financing the film.[15] Producer Grant Hill was also involved with the film at an early stage.[15] During a meeting on a different subject involving Malick, his producer Sarah Green, Brad Pitt, and Pitt's Plan B Entertainment production partner Dede Gardner, Malick brought up Tree of Life and the difficulties it was having getting made.[16] It was "much later on" that the decision was made for Pitt to be part of the cast.[16]
The Tree of Life was announced in late 2005, with Indian production company Percept Picture Company set to finance it and Donald Rosenfeld on board as executive producer. The film was set to be shot partially in India, with pre-production scheduled to begin in January 2006.[17] Colin Farrell and Mel Gibson were at one stage attached to the project. Heath Ledger was set to play the role of Mr. O'Brien, but dropped out (due to recurring sicknesses) a month before his death in early 2008.[18]
For the roles of the three brothers, the production team spent over a year, seeing over 10,000 Texas students for the roles.[19] About 95% of the entire cast had no prior acting experience.[19]
In an October 2008 interview Jack Fisk, a longtime Malick collaborator, suggested that the director was attempting something radical.[20] He also implied that details of the film were a close secret.[21] In March 2009, visual effects artist Mike Fink revealed to Empire magazine that he was working on scenes of prehistoric Earth for the film.[22] The similarity of the scenes Fink describes to descriptions of a hugely ambiguous project entitled Q that Malick worked on soon after Days of Heaven led to speculation that The Tree of Life was a resurrection of that abandoned project.[23]
Themes[edit]
Philosophical[edit]
Many reviewers have noted the philosophical and theological themes of the film. Catholic author and now bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester Fr. Robert Barron, reviewing The Tree of Life for a Chicago Tribune blog, noted that "in the play of good and evil, in the tension between nature and grace, God is up to something beautiful, though we are unable to grasp it totally..."Tree of Life" is communicating this same difficult but vital lesson."[46] The Catholic magazine America called the film "a philosophical exploration of grief, theodicy and the duality of grace and human nature". They described the final beach scene as "the greatest film depiction of eschatological bodily resurrection".[47]
Rabbi David Wolpe says "that Terrence Malick's new film "Tree of Life" opens with a quotation from Job. That quotation holds the key to the film and in some sense, the key to our attitude toward life."[48] He added that "The agony of the parents, the periodic cruelty of the father — all are the powerful but passing dramas that for the moment entirely preoccupy us as we watch the movie. But then we are drawn back to a world so much bigger than our hour upon the stage that we know again how essentially small is each human story."[48]
According to Bob Mondello, the film is showing that "to understand the death of a young man, we need to understand everything that led to his creation, starting with creation itself."[49]
Kristen Scharold compared the film to Augustine's Confessions, and noted how one voiceover is nearly identical to a quote from Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.[50]
Nature and grace[edit]
Many have said that Mr. O'Brien represents the way of nature, while Mrs. O'Brien represents the way of grace.[49][38]
Brad Pitt said Mr. O'Brien "represents nature — but nature as that oppressive force that will choke another plant out for its own survival."[38] "The American dream didn't work out as he believed it would. [He's] quite envious and bitter that people are ahead of him. Naturally, when someone feels oppressed, they find someone weaker to pass that oppression on[to], and the sadness in this situation [is] it's on his sons."[38]
Autobiographical[edit]
Many reviewers have noted the similarities between Jack's life and Terrence Malick's life. Jim Lynch, a close friend of Malick, told Malick that he thought The Tree of Life, Knight of Cups, and Song to Song, formed an "autobiographical trilogy".[39] Lynch said Malick disliked the labeling and "didn't want people thinking that he was just making movies about himself. He was making movies about broader issues."[39]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Early reviews for The Tree of Life were polarized. After being met with both boos[78] and applause[79] at its premiere at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival,[80] the film received mixed early reviews.[81][82] It went on to be awarded the Palme d'Or. Two of its producers, Bill Pohlad and Sarah Green, accepted the prize on behalf of the reclusive Malick.[83] The Tree of Life is the first American film to win the Palme d'Or since Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004.[83] The head of the jury, Robert De Niro, said it was difficult to choose a winner, but The Tree of Life "ultimately fit the bill".[83] De Niro explained, "It had the size, the importance, the intention, whatever you want to call it, that seemed to fit the prize."[83][84]
The Tree of Life has since garnered critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, 85% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 298 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads "Terrence Malick's singularly deliberate style may prove unrewarding for some, but for patient viewers, Tree of Life is an emotional as well as visual treat."[85] On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 85 out of 100 based on 50 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[86]
Roger Ebert gave the film four stars of four and wrote: