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The Tree of Life (film)

January 01, 1970

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
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTerrence Malick
Written byTerrence Malick
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEmmanuel Lubezki
Edited by
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • May 16, 2011 (2011-05-16) (Cannes)
  • May 27, 2011 (2011-05-27) (United States)
Running time
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[3]
Box office$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.

Plot edit

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth? ... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"

The film begins with a quote from the Book of Job 38:4-7, before a mysterious, flame-like light flickers in the darkness.

Around the 1960s,[11] Mrs. and Mr. O'Brien are informed of the death of their 19-year-old son, R.L., throwing the family into turmoil. In 2010, eldest son Jack is adrift in his modern life in Dallas, Texas as an architect, disillusioned by his life full of disappointments. Meanwhile, voiceovers from Mrs. O'Brien ask God why R.L. had to die. Then, visuals depict the birth of the universe, followed by the creation of Earth and the beginning of life. At one point, a dinosaur chooses not to kill another dinosaur that is injured and lying on the side of a river bed. Finally, an asteroid strikes the Earth.

In a suburban neighborhood in Waco, Texas in the 1940s,[11] the O'Briens are enthralled by their new baby Jack and later his two brothers, R.L. and Stevie. In the 1950s, Jack is conflicted with accepting the way of grace or nature, as embodied by his parents. Mrs. O'Brien, the embodiment of grace, presents the world to her sons as a place of wonder. Mr. O'Brien, the embodiment of nature, easily loses his temper as he struggles to reconcile his love for his sons, wanting to prepare them for a world he sees as corrupt and exploitative. He laments his decision to work in a power plant instead of pursuing his passion for music, and tries to get ahead by filing patents for various inventions.

Jack's perceptions of the world begin to change after his friend Taylor drowns. He questions how God could allow such things to happen, and that if God is malicious, he can be too. He becomes angry at his father's continuous hypocrisies and misdeeds, lashing out at his mother for tolerating him. When Mr. O'Brien goes on a business trip, the boys enjoy unfettered access to their mother, and Jack experiences the first twinges of rebelliousness. Peer-pressured, Jack commits vandalism and animal abuse. When trespassing into his crush's house, he steals her sheer nightgown, then fearfully throws it into a river. Shortly after Mr. O'Brien returns, the plant that he works at closes; he is given the option of relocating to work in an inferior position within the firm or losing his job. As the family packs up to move to the new job, he laments his path of life, asking Jack to forgive his domineering behavior; Jack reflectively says he embodies nature.

As Jack leaves work, he rides the elevator up, envisioning following a young girl across rocky terrain. As he walks through a wooden door frame erected on the rocks, he sees a view of the far distant future in which the Sun expands into a red giant, engulfing Earth and then shrinking into a white dwarf. Emerging from rustic doors, Jack follows the girl, then a young version of himself, across surreal landscapes. The dead return to life and gather at the seaside, where Jack is reunited with his family and all those who populate his memory. Jack meets his brothers and brings R.L. to his parents, who bids goodbye as he steps out of a home into a vast expanse. Accompanied by two girls in white, Mrs. O'Brien gracefully whispers, "I give him to you. I give you my son."

Jack's vision ends and he leaves the building, smiling contentedly. The mysterious light shown before continues to flicker in the darkness.

Cast edit

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]

 
The Fayette County Courthouse and local square, located 20 miles outside of Smithville in La Grange, TX, appears in the film as the O'Brien boys witness an arrest.[24]

Filming edit

Principal photography began in Texas in 2008.[25] Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki returned to work with Malick after collaborating with him on The New World. The film was shot in 1.85:1 and often used natural light.[26][27] The film used 35mm, 65mm, and IMAX formats.[27]

Locations included Smithville,[28] Houston, Matagorda,[29] Bastrop, Austin,[30] Dallas,[31] and Malick's hometown of Waco.[32]

The eponym of the film is a large live oak tree that was excavated from a property five miles outside Smithville.[33] The 65,000-pound tree and root ball were trucked into Smithville and replanted.[34][35][36][37]

The sets for The Tree of Life were unusual for a large scale film.[38] According to Brad Pitt, "A movie set is very chaotic. There [are] hundreds of people; there [are] generators and trucks. And this was a completely different experience — we had none of that." "There were no [camera] lights ... there were no generators and the camera was all hand-held so it was a very free-form, low-key experience."[38]

Malick would change different aspects of a scene between takes in order to create "moments of truth".[38]

Editing edit

Similar to many of Malick's films, the film had "teams of editors to put together different cuts, and finding and discarding entire story lines during the post-production process."[39] Malick used "unorthodox methods to edit the film".[40] One of the film's editors, Billy Weber said "Terry is willing to try anything. Absolutely anything. Sometimes we'd cut a character out of a scene, or cut all the dialogue out of a scene, just to see if it worked. And when you've worked with him for any length of time, you can even try that without asking him about it first. He's very open to looking at anything that you try."[40] This includes allowing film students from USC and University of Texas, as well as interns, to play a part in the editing process.[40] Some of them stayed on the film the whole time.[40]

In an unused ending for the film, Jack arrives as a boarding student at St. Stephen's Episcopal School, which Malick attended in the 1950s.[39]

Visual effects edit

After nearly thirty years away from Hollywood, famed special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull contributed to the visual effects work on The Tree of Life. Malick, a friend of Trumbull, approached him about the effects work and mentioned that he did not like the look of computer-generated imagery. Trumbull asked Malick, "Why not do it the old way? The way we did it in 2001?"[41]

 
The home of the fictional O'Brien family is located in Smithville, Texas.[42]

Working with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, Trumbull used a variety of materials for the creation of the universe sequence. "We worked with chemicals, paint, fluorescent dyes, smoke, liquids, CO2, flares, spin dishes, fluid dynamics, lighting and high speed photography to see how effective they might be," said Trumbull. "It was a free-wheeling opportunity to explore, something that I have found extraordinarily hard to get in the movie business. Terry didn't have any preconceived ideas of what something should look like. We did things like pour milk through a funnel into a narrow trough and shoot it with a high-speed camera and folded lens, lighting it carefully and using a frame rate that would give the right kind of flow characteristics to look cosmic, galactic, huge and epic."[43] The team also included Double Negative in London. Fluid-based effects were developed by Peter and Chris Parks, who had previously worked on similar effects for The Fountain.[44]

A column in The New Yorker noted that the film credited Thomas Wilfred's lumia composition Opus 161, and that this was the source of the "shifting flame of red-yellow light" at the beginning and the end.[45]

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]

Release edit

 
Brad Pitt promoting the film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

In March 2009, Empire magazine's website quoted visual effects supervisor Mike Fink as saying that a version of the film will be released for IMAX cinemas along with two versions for traditional cinemas.[22] The IMAX film has been revealed to be Voyage of Time, a documentary expanding on the "history of the universe" scenes in The Tree of Life, which the producers decided to focus on releasing at a later date so as not to cannibalize its release.[51] It was released in IMAX in the United States on October 7, 2016 by Broad Green Pictures.[52]

Delays and distribution problems edit

By May 2009, The Tree of Life had been sold to a number of international distributors, including EuropaCorp in France, TriPictures in Spain, and Icon in the United Kingdom and Australia,[53] but lacked a US distributor. In August 2009, it was announced that the film would be released in the US through Apparition, a new distributor founded by River Road Entertainment head Bill Pohlad and former Picturehouse chief Bob Berney.[54] A tentative date of December 25, 2009 was announced, but the film was not completed in time.[55] Organisers of the Cannes Film Festival made negotiations to secure a premiere at Cannes 2010, resulting in Malick sending an early version of the film to Thierry Fremaux and the Cannes selection committee.[56] Though Fremaux warmly received the cut and was eager to screen the film at his festival,[56] Malick ultimately told him that he felt the film was not ready.[57] On the eve of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Berney suddenly announced his departure from Apparition, leaving the company's future uncertain.[58] Pohlad decided to keep The Tree of Life at Apparition, and after significant restructuring, hired Tom Ortenberg to act as a consultant on its release. A tentative plan was made to release it in late 2010, in time for awards consideration.[59] Ultimately, Pohlad decided to close Apparition and sell rights to the film.[60] Private screenings of the film to interested parties Fox Searchlight Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics took place at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival.[61] On September 9, Fox Searchlight announced their acquisition of the film from Pohlad's River Road Entertainment.[62] The film opened in limited release in the United States on May 27, 2011.[63]

On March 28, 2011, UK magazine Empire reported that UK distributor Icon Entertainment was planning to release the film on May 4, 2011. This would make the UK the first region in the world to see the film,[64] preempting the expected Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 11. This would disqualify the film from inclusion at Cannes.[65] As a result, a surge of interest in the story developed on international film news sites.[64] After film blogger Jeff Wells was told by a Fox Searchlight representative that this was "unlikely",[66] and Anne Thompson received similar word from Searchlight and outright denial from Summit,[67][68] Helen O'Hara from Empire received a confirmation from Icon that they intended to stick with the May 4 release.[64] On March 31, Jeff Wells was told by Jill Jones, Summit's senior VP of international marketing and publicity, that Icon has lost the right to distribute The Tree of Life in the UK, due to defaulting on its agreement, with the matter pending arbitration at a tribunal in Los Angeles.[69] On June 9, it was announced that The Tree of Life would be released in the UK on July 8, 2011, after Fox Searchlight Pictures picked up the UK rights from Icon.[70]

Home media edit

The Tree of Life was released on Blu-ray Disc in the United States and Canada on October 11, 2011; on January 24, 2012, there was a separate release of the DVD.[71]

During the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, Peter Becker, president of the home media company The Criterion Collection, and Fox Searchlight discussed a potential Criterion home video release that would include a longer alternate version of The Tree of Life which Malick would like to create. In an unprecedented move, Criterion decided to finance the alternate version for its eventual inclusion on both Blu-ray and DVD. In creating the alternate version, the original negatives' palettes were located for Malick to use, the entire film scanned in 4K resolution, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki brought in to help grade the footage, and a full sound mix created for the additional material, with Malick even dedicating "the better part of a year" to this project. Becker stated that the company has "never undertaken anything this extensive or this challenging, or anything that has taken this long to achieve or required so much effort on the part of pretty much every post-production craft. The only thing we didn't do is go shoot new material".[72]

Malick was careful to note that the extended cut of the film is an alternative version, not the definitive one. In an interview with Indiewire, Criterion technical director Lee Kline said:

Unlike with [The New World], [the version of The Tree of Life] that premiered in 2011 at Cannes [was] definitely the definitive version of the film he wanted to make. What's interesting talking to Terry about this [new version of Tree of Life], I think he still doesn't want people to think this is a better version. This is another version.[73]

The extended version runs to 188 minutes; in addition to entirely new footage with new characters and scenes, it also extends existing scenes and features minor changes to the film's score, musical arrangements, and color grading.[72] After premiering at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 7, 2018,[74] the extended cut was released on September 11, along with a new 4K digital restoration of the original version. Both editions also include the film's trailer, the making-of documentary Exploring "The Tree of Life", a 2011 interview with composer Alexandre Desplat, new interviews with actress Jessica Chastain, visual-effects supervisor Dan Glass, and music critic Alex Ross, and a 2011 video essay by Matt Zoller Seitz, as well as a booklet containing essays by film critics Kent Jones and Roger Ebert. The cover used for both editions is designed by Neil Kellerhouse.[75]

Soundtrack edit

The Tree of Life Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat was released in 2011 by Lakeshore Records.[76] "The Tree of Life" features selections and snippets from more than 30 individual pieces—including works by Brahms, Mahler, Bach, Couperin, Górecki and Holst. They are all woven together seamlessly with the help of some original music by Alexandre Desplat.[77]

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:

The Tree of Life is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives. The only other film I've seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and it lacked Malick's fierce evocation of human feeling. There were once several directors who yearned to make no less than a masterpiece, but now there are only a few. Malick has stayed true to that hope ever since his first feature in 1973.[87]

The following year, Ebert gave The Tree of Life one of his 10 votes in Sight & Sound's 2012 critics' poll of the world's greatest films.[88] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said a "seraphic strain" in Malick's work "hits a solipsistic high" in The Tree of Life. "While the result will sound to some like a prayer, others may find it increasingly lonely and locked, and may themselves pray for Ben Hecht or Billy Wilder to rise from the dead and attack Malick's script with a quiver of poisonous wisecracks."[89]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded it five stars and lauded it as an "unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss" and a "mad and magnificent film".[90] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter states "Brandishing an ambition it's likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfill, The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind's place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amidst its narrative imprecisions."[91] Justin Chang of Variety states the film "represents something extraordinary" and "is in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work, a transfixing odyssey through time and memory that melds a young boy's 1950s upbringing with a magisterial rumination on the Earth's origins."[1] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone states "Shot with a poet's eye, Malick's film is a groundbreaker, a personal vision that dares to reach for the stars."[92] A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave the film much praise and stated, "The sheer beauty of this film is almost overwhelming, but as with other works of religiously minded art, its aesthetic glories are tethered to a humble and exalted purpose, which is to shine the light of the sacred on secular reality". Total Film gave the film a five-star review (denoting 'outstanding'): "The Tree of Life is beautiful. Ridiculously, rapturously beautiful. You could press 'pause' at any second and hang the frame on your wall."[93] Richard Corliss of Time named it one of the Top 10 Best Movies of 2011.[94]

Some religious reviewers welcomed the spiritual themes of the film.[95][96][97][98] For instance, Catholic author and now auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles 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] 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]

Not all reviews were positive. Sukhdev Sandhu, chief film critic of The Daily Telegraph describes the movie as "self-absorbed", and "achingly slow, almost buckling under the weight of its swoony poetry."[99] Likewise, Stephanie Zacharek of Movieline praised the technical aspects of the film, such as the "gorgeous photography", but nonetheless criticized it as "a gargantuan work of pretension and cleverly concealed self-absorption."[100] Lee Marshall of Screen Daily referred to the film as "a cinematic credo about spiritual transcendence which, while often shot through with poetic yearning, preaches too directly to its audience."[101] Filmmaker David Lynch said that, while he liked Malick's previous works, The Tree of Life "was not his cup of tea".[102] In 2016, John Patterson of The Guardian complained of the meager impression that the film left on him, opining that "much of it simply evaporates before your eyes."[103]

Sean Penn has said, "The screenplay is the most magnificent one that I've ever read but I couldn't find that same emotion on screen. ... A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact."[104] He further clarified his reservations about the film by adding, "But it's a film I recommend, as long as you go in without any preconceived ideas. It's up to each person to find their own personal, emotional or spiritual connection to it. Those that do generally emerge very moved."[105]

Top ten lists edit

The film appeared on over 70 critics' year-end top ten lists, including 15 first-place rankings.[106] The Tree of Life was voted best film of 2011 in the annual Sight & Sound critic poll, earning one and a half times as many votes as runner up A Separation.[107] The film also topped the critics poll of best released film of 2011 by Film Comment,[108] and the IndieWire annual critics survey for 2011,[109] as well as The Village Voice/LA Weekly Film Poll 2011.[110] In France, Cahiers du cinéma placed it second on its 2011 top ten list, tying it with The Strange Case of Angelica.[111] Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named The Tree of Life the third-best film of 2011, writing that "it may be the best thing [Malick's] ever done."[112]

Other lists edit

In 2015, Bradshaw named the film one of the top 50 films of the decade so far by The Guardian.[113] The Tree of Life ranked 79th on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)'s 100 Greatest American Films in 2015,[114] as well as seventh in the 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century in August 2016.[9] The latter list was compiled by polling 177 film critics from around the world.

In 2019, The Guardian ranked The Tree of Life 28th in its 100 best films of the 21st century list.[115] In December 2019, The Tree of Life topped The Associated Press' list of the best films of the 2010s.[8] In March 2020, America magazine put the film on its The Top 25 Films from the Last 25 Years.[47]

In 2022, the film was ranked #196 in the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll.[10]

Accolades edit

Main article: List of accolades received by The Tree of Life (film)

The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[116] The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Director, and Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the 84th Academy Awards[117]

The film won the 2011 FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Big Prize for the Best Film Of the Year. The award was presented on September 16, during the opening ceremony of the 59th San Sebastián International Film Festival.[118] Malick released a statement of thanks for the award.[119] On November 28, it was announced that the film had won the Gotham Award for Best Feature, shared with Beginners.[120]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Justin Chang (May 16, 2011). "Cannes Competition: The Tree of Life". Variety. from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  2. ^ "The Tree of Life (12)". British Board of Film Classification. June 10, 2011. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  3. ^ "The Tree of Life". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  4. ^ "The Tree of Life". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  5. ^ Skiba, Justin (May 16, 2019). "Eight years ago today: The Tree of Life premieres at Cannes (May 16, 2011)". Two Ways Through Life - The Tree of Life (2011) Film Enthusiast. from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  6. ^ "Film Critic Top 10 Lists - Best of 2011". Metacritic. from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  7. ^ "Best of 2011". CriticsTop10. from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Coyle, Jake; Bahr, Lindsey (December 13, 2019). "'Tree of Life' tops AP's best 10 films of the decade". AP News. from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films". BBC Culture. August 23, 2016. from the original on January 31, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
  10. ^ a b "The Tree of Life (2010)". BFI. February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  11. ^ a b Orr, Christopher (June 3, 2011). "'The Tree Of Life': A Beautiful, Lyrical Mess". The Atlantic. from the original on May 9, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  12. ^ Ebiri, Bilge (May 13, 2011). "How Everything in Terrence Malick's Career Has Built Toward 'The Tree of Life' -- New York Magazine - Nymag". New York Magazine. from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  13. ^ a b The Playlist Staff (July 12, 2011). "The Lost Projects And Unproduced Screenplays Of Terrence Malick". IndieWire. from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  14. ^ Abele, Robert (September 9, 2009). "Pohlad holds out hope". Variety. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  15. ^ a b Zeitchik, Steven; John Horn (January 24, 2012). "Oscars 2012: How will 'Tree of Life' be represented?". Los Angeles Times. from the original on August 29, 2019. Retrieved January 26, 2012. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it had yet to determine which producers would be eligible for the best picture prize....it's likely that Bill Pohlad and Sarah Green will be two of the producers. Pohlad, who financed the film, had been developing it with Malick for about a decade, while Green is Malick's longtime producer and close confidant. The third slot could go to one of three people – Grant Hill, a producer who was involved with it early on; Brad Pitt, who came on to produce and then star; or Dede Gardner, Pitt's producing partner.
  16. ^ a b "The Tree of Life: A Conversation With Producer Dede Gardner". thehdroom.com. October 13, 2011. from the original on February 29, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  17. ^ Bhushan, Nyay (August 31, 2005). . The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 3, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
  18. ^ Naval-Shetye, Aakanksha (May 17, 2006). "Guess who's coming to town!". The Times of India. from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  19. ^ a b Kavner, Lucas (June 11, 2011). "How Malick Built A Family In 'Tree Of Life'". HuffPost. from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  20. ^ "Arrival in The New World: Extended Cut". Blogtalkradio.com. October 29, 2008. from the original on May 11, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  21. ^ Lim, Dennis (January 6, 2008). "If You Need a Past, He's the Guy to Build It". The New York Times. from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  22. ^ a b Exclusive: Malick's Tree Of Life May 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Empire. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  23. ^ Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE To Go IMAX? With Dinosaurs? October 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, aintitcool.com, March 2, 2009
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External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Tree of Life (film).

January 01, 1970
tree, life, film, tree, life, 2011, american, epic, experimental, coming, drama, film, written, directed, terrence, malick, main, cast, includes, brad, pitt, sean, penn, hunter, mccracken, laramie, eppler, jessica, chastain, sheridan, debut, feature, film, rol. 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 LifeTheatrical release posterDirected byTerrence MalickWritten byTerrence MalickProduced bySarah Green Bill Pohlad Brad Pitt Dede Gardner Grant HillStarringBrad Pitt Sean Penn Jessica ChastainCinematographyEmmanuel LubezkiEdited byHank Corwin Jay Rabinowitz Daniel Rezende Billy Weber Mark YoshikawaMusic byAlexandre DesplatProductioncompaniesRiver Road Entertainment Plan B EntertainmentDistributed byFox Searchlight Pictures USA UK Summit Entertainment International 1 Release datesMay 16 2011 2011 05 16 Cannes May 27 2011 2011 05 27 United States Running time139 minutes 2 CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 32 million 3 Box office 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 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 3 1 Development 3 2 Filming 3 3 Editing 3 4 Visual effects 4 Themes 4 1 Philosophical 4 2 Nature and grace 4 3 Autobiographical 5 Release 5 1 Delays and distribution problems 5 2 Home media 5 3 Soundtrack 6 Reception 6 1 Critical response 6 2 Top ten lists 6 3 Other lists 6 4 Accolades 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksPlot edit Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy The film begins with a quote from the Book of Job 38 4 7 before a mysterious flame like light flickers in the darkness Around the 1960s 11 Mrs and Mr O Brien are informed of the death of their 19 year old son R L throwing the family into turmoil In 2010 eldest son Jack is adrift in his modern life in Dallas Texas as an architect disillusioned by his life full of disappointments Meanwhile voiceovers from Mrs O Brien ask God why R L had to die Then visuals depict the birth of the universe followed by the creation of Earth and the beginning of life At one point a dinosaur chooses not to kill another dinosaur that is injured and lying on the side of a river bed Finally an asteroid strikes the Earth In a suburban neighborhood in Waco Texas in the 1940s 11 the O Briens are enthralled by their new baby Jack and later his two brothers R L and Stevie In the 1950s Jack is conflicted with accepting the way of grace or nature as embodied by his parents Mrs O Brien the embodiment of grace presents the world to her sons as a place of wonder Mr O Brien the embodiment of nature easily loses his temper as he struggles to reconcile his love for his sons wanting to prepare them for a world he sees as corrupt and exploitative He laments his decision to work in a power plant instead of pursuing his passion for music and tries to get ahead by filing patents for various inventions Jack s perceptions of the world begin to change after his friend Taylor drowns He questions how God could allow such things to happen and that if God is malicious he can be too He becomes angry at his father s continuous hypocrisies and misdeeds lashing out at his mother for tolerating him When Mr O Brien goes on a business trip the boys enjoy unfettered access to their mother and Jack experiences the first twinges of rebelliousness Peer pressured Jack commits vandalism and animal abuse When trespassing into his crush s house he steals her sheer nightgown then fearfully throws it into a river Shortly after Mr O Brien returns the plant that he works at closes he is given the option of relocating to work in an inferior position within the firm or losing his job As the family packs up to move to the new job he laments his path of life asking Jack to forgive his domineering behavior Jack reflectively says he embodies nature As Jack leaves work he rides the elevator up envisioning following a young girl across rocky terrain As he walks through a wooden door frame erected on the rocks he sees a view of the far distant future in which the Sun expands into a red giant engulfing Earth and then shrinking into a white dwarf Emerging from rustic doors Jack follows the girl then a young version of himself across surreal landscapes The dead return to life and gather at the seaside where Jack is reunited with his family and all those who populate his memory Jack meets his brothers and brings R L to his parents who bids goodbye as he steps out of a home into a vast expanse Accompanied by two girls in white Mrs O Brien gracefully whispers I give him to you I give you my son Jack s vision ends and he leaves the building smiling contentedly The mysterious light shown before continues to flicker in the darkness Cast editBrad Pitt as Mr O Brien Jessica Chastain as Mrs O Brien Sean Penn as Jack O Brien Hunter McCracken as young Jack Finnegan Williams as Jack age 5 Michael Koeth as Jack age 2 Laramie Eppler as R L O Brien John Howell as R L age 2 Tye Sheridan as Steve O Brien Kari Matchett as Jack s ex Joanna Going as Jack s wife Michael Showers as Mr Brown Kimberly Whalen as Mrs Brown Jackson Hurst as Uncle Roy Fiona Shaw as Grandmother Crystal Mantecon as Elisa Tamara Jolaine as Mrs Stone Dustin Allen as George Walsh Tommy Hollis as TommyProduction editDevelopment 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 nbsp The Fayette County Courthouse and local square located 20 miles outside of Smithville in La Grange TX appears in the film as the O Brien boys witness an arrest 24 Filming edit Principal photography began in Texas in 2008 25 Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki returned to work with Malick after collaborating with him on The New World The film was shot in 1 85 1 and often used natural light 26 27 The film used 35mm 65mm and IMAX formats 27 Locations included Smithville 28 Houston Matagorda 29 Bastrop Austin 30 Dallas 31 and Malick s hometown of Waco 32 The eponym of the film is a large live oak tree that was excavated from a property five miles outside Smithville 33 The 65 000 pound tree and root ball were trucked into Smithville and replanted 34 35 36 37 The sets for The Tree of Life were unusual for a large scale film 38 According to Brad Pitt A movie set is very chaotic There are hundreds of people there are generators and trucks And this was a completely different experience we had none of that There were no camera lights there were no generators and the camera was all hand held so it was a very free form low key experience 38 Malick would change different aspects of a scene between takes in order to create moments of truth 38 Editing edit Similar to many of Malick s films the film had teams of editors to put together different cuts and finding and discarding entire story lines during the post production process 39 Malick used unorthodox methods to edit the film 40 One of the film s editors Billy Weber said Terry is willing to try anything Absolutely anything Sometimes we d cut a character out of a scene or cut all the dialogue out of a scene just to see if it worked And when you ve worked with him for any length of time you can even try that without asking him about it first He s very open to looking at anything that you try 40 This includes allowing film students from USC and University of Texas as well as interns to play a part in the editing process 40 Some of them stayed on the film the whole time 40 In an unused ending for the film Jack arrives as a boarding student at St Stephen s Episcopal School which Malick attended in the 1950s 39 Visual effects edit After nearly thirty years away from Hollywood famed special effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull contributed to the visual effects work on The Tree of Life Malick a friend of Trumbull approached him about the effects work and mentioned that he did not like the look of computer generated imagery Trumbull asked Malick Why not do it the old way The way we did it in 2001 41 nbsp The home of the fictional O Brien family is located in Smithville Texas 42 Working with visual effects supervisor Dan Glass Trumbull used a variety of materials for the creation of the universe sequence We worked with chemicals paint fluorescent dyes smoke liquids CO2 flares spin dishes fluid dynamics lighting and high speed photography to see how effective they might be said Trumbull It was a free wheeling opportunity to explore something that I have found extraordinarily hard to get in the movie business Terry didn t have any preconceived ideas of what something should look like We did things like pour milk through a funnel into a narrow trough and shoot it with a high speed camera and folded lens lighting it carefully and using a frame rate that would give the right kind of flow characteristics to look cosmic galactic huge and epic 43 The team also included Double Negative in London Fluid based effects were developed by Peter and Chris Parks who had previously worked on similar effects for The Fountain 44 A column in The New Yorker noted that the film credited Thomas Wilfred s lumia composition Opus 161 and that this was the source of the shifting flame of red yellow light at the beginning and the end 45 Themes editPhilosophical 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 Release edit nbsp Brad Pitt promoting the film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival In March 2009 Empire magazine s website quoted visual effects supervisor Mike Fink as saying that a version of the film will be released for IMAX cinemas along with two versions for traditional cinemas 22 The IMAX film has been revealed to be Voyage of Time a documentary expanding on the history of the universe scenes in The Tree of Life which the producers decided to focus on releasing at a later date so as not to cannibalize its release 51 It was released in IMAX in the United States on October 7 2016 by Broad Green Pictures 52 Delays and distribution problems edit By May 2009 The Tree of Life had been sold to a number of international distributors including EuropaCorp in France TriPictures in Spain and Icon in the United Kingdom and Australia 53 but lacked a US distributor In August 2009 it was announced that the film would be released in the US through Apparition a new distributor founded by River Road Entertainment head Bill Pohlad and former Picturehouse chief Bob Berney 54 A tentative date of December 25 2009 was announced but the film was not completed in time 55 Organisers of the Cannes Film Festival made negotiations to secure a premiere at Cannes 2010 resulting in Malick sending an early version of the film to Thierry Fremaux and the Cannes selection committee 56 Though Fremaux warmly received the cut and was eager to screen the film at his festival 56 Malick ultimately told him that he felt the film was not ready 57 On the eve of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival Berney suddenly announced his departure from Apparition leaving the company s future uncertain 58 Pohlad decided to keep The Tree of Life at Apparition and after significant restructuring hired Tom Ortenberg to act as a consultant on its release A tentative plan was made to release it in late 2010 in time for awards consideration 59 Ultimately Pohlad decided to close Apparition and sell rights to the film 60 Private screenings of the film to interested parties Fox Searchlight Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics took place at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival 61 On September 9 Fox Searchlight announced their acquisition of the film from Pohlad s River Road Entertainment 62 The film opened in limited release in the United States on May 27 2011 63 On March 28 2011 UK magazine Empire reported that UK distributor Icon Entertainment was planning to release the film on May 4 2011 This would make the UK the first region in the world to see the film 64 preempting the expected Cannes Film Festival premiere on May 11 This would disqualify the film from inclusion at Cannes 65 As a result a surge of interest in the story developed on international film news sites 64 After film blogger Jeff Wells was told by a Fox Searchlight representative that this was unlikely 66 and Anne Thompson received similar word from Searchlight and outright denial from Summit 67 68 Helen O Hara from Empire received a confirmation from Icon that they intended to stick with the May 4 release 64 On March 31 Jeff Wells was told by Jill Jones Summit s senior VP of international marketing and publicity that Icon has lost the right to distribute The Tree of Life in the UK due to defaulting on its agreement with the matter pending arbitration at a tribunal in Los Angeles 69 On June 9 it was announced that The Tree of Life would be released in the UK on July 8 2011 after Fox Searchlight Pictures picked up the UK rights from Icon 70 Home media edit The Tree of Life was released on Blu ray Disc in the United States and Canada on October 11 2011 on January 24 2012 there was a separate release of the DVD 71 During the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 Peter Becker president of the home media company The Criterion Collection and Fox Searchlight discussed a potential Criterion home video release that would include a longer alternate version of The Tree of Life which Malick would like to create In an unprecedented move Criterion decided to finance the alternate version for its eventual inclusion on both Blu ray and DVD In creating the alternate version the original negatives palettes were located for Malick to use the entire film scanned in 4K resolution cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki brought in to help grade the footage and a full sound mix created for the additional material with Malick even dedicating the better part of a year to this project Becker stated that the company has never undertaken anything this extensive or this challenging or anything that has taken this long to achieve or required so much effort on the part of pretty much every post production craft The only thing we didn t do is go shoot new material 72 Malick was careful to note that the extended cut of the film is an alternative version not the definitive one In an interview with Indiewire Criterion technical director Lee Kline said Unlike with The New World the version of The Tree of Life that premiered in 2011 at Cannes was definitely the definitive version of the film he wanted to make What s interesting talking to Terry about this new version of Tree of Life I think he still doesn t want people to think this is a better version This is another version 73 The extended version runs to 188 minutes in addition to entirely new footage with new characters and scenes it also extends existing scenes and features minor changes to the film s score musical arrangements and color grading 72 After premiering at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on September 7 2018 74 the extended cut was released on September 11 along with a new 4K digital restoration of the original version Both editions also include the film s trailer the making of documentary Exploring The Tree of Life a 2011 interview with composer Alexandre Desplat new interviews with actress Jessica Chastain visual effects supervisor Dan Glass and music critic Alex Ross and a 2011 video essay by Matt Zoller Seitz as well as a booklet containing essays by film critics Kent Jones and Roger Ebert The cover used for both editions is designed by Neil Kellerhouse 75 Soundtrack edit The Tree of Life Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Alexandre Desplat was released in 2011 by Lakeshore Records 76 The Tree of Life features selections and snippets from more than 30 individual pieces including works by Brahms Mahler Bach Couperin Gorecki and Holst They are all woven together seamlessly with the help of some original music by Alexandre Desplat 77 Reception editCritical 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 The Tree of Life is a film of vast ambition and deep humility attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives The only other film I ve seen with this boldness of vision is Kubrick s 2001 A Space Odyssey and it lacked Malick s fierce evocation of human feeling There were once several directors who yearned to make no less than a masterpiece but now there are only a few Malick has stayed true to that hope ever since his first feature in 1973 87 The following year Ebert gave The Tree of Life one of his 10 votes in Sight amp Sound s 2012 critics poll of the world s greatest films 88 Anthony Lane of The New Yorker said a seraphic strain in Malick s work hits a solipsistic high in The Tree of Life While the result will sound to some like a prayer others may find it increasingly lonely and locked and may themselves pray for Ben Hecht or Billy Wilder to rise from the dead and attack Malick s script with a quiver of poisonous wisecracks 89 Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded it five stars and lauded it as an unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss and a mad and magnificent film 90 Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter states Brandishing an ambition it s likely no film including this one could entirely fulfill The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind s place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amidst its narrative imprecisions 91 Justin Chang of Variety states the film represents something extraordinary and is in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work a transfixing odyssey through time and memory that melds a young boy s 1950s upbringing with a magisterial rumination on the Earth s origins 1 Peter Travers of Rolling Stone states Shot with a poet s eye Malick s film is a groundbreaker a personal vision that dares to reach for the stars 92 A O Scott of The New York Times gave the film much praise and stated The sheer beauty of this film is almost overwhelming but as with other works of religiously minded art its aesthetic glories are tethered to a humble and exalted purpose which is to shine the light of the sacred on secular reality Total Film gave the film a five star review denoting outstanding The Tree of Life is beautiful Ridiculously rapturously beautiful You could press pause at any second and hang the frame on your wall 93 Richard Corliss of Time named it one of the Top 10 Best Movies of 2011 94 Some religious reviewers welcomed the spiritual themes of the film 95 96 97 98 For instance Catholic author and now auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles 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 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 Not all reviews were positive Sukhdev Sandhu chief film critic of The Daily Telegraph describes the movie as self absorbed and achingly slow almost buckling under the weight of its swoony poetry 99 Likewise Stephanie Zacharek of Movieline praised the technical aspects of the film such as the gorgeous photography but nonetheless criticized it as a gargantuan work of pretension and cleverly concealed self absorption 100 Lee Marshall of Screen Daily referred to the film as a cinematic credo about spiritual transcendence which while often shot through with poetic yearning preaches too directly to its audience 101 Filmmaker David Lynch said that while he liked Malick s previous works The Tree of Life was not his cup of tea 102 In 2016 John Patterson of The Guardian complained of the meager impression that the film left on him opining that much of it simply evaporates before your eyes 103 Sean Penn has said The screenplay is the most magnificent one that I ve ever read but I couldn t find that same emotion on screen A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without in my opinion lessening its beauty and its impact 104 He further clarified his reservations about the film by adding But it s a film I recommend as long as you go in without any preconceived ideas It s up to each person to find their own personal emotional or spiritual connection to it Those that do generally emerge very moved 105 Top ten lists edit The film appeared on over 70 critics year end top ten lists including 15 first place rankings 106 The Tree of Life was voted best film of 2011 in the annual Sight amp Sound critic poll earning one and a half times as many votes as runner up A Separation 107 The film also topped the critics poll of best released film of 2011 by Film Comment 108 and the IndieWire annual critics survey for 2011 109 as well as The Village Voice LA Weekly Film Poll 2011 110 In France Cahiers du cinema placed it second on its 2011 top ten list tying it with The Strange Case of Angelica 111 Keith Uhlich of Time Out New York named The Tree of Life the third best film of 2011 writing that it may be the best thing Malick s ever done 112 Other lists edit In 2015 Bradshaw named the film one of the top 50 films of the decade so far by The Guardian 113 The Tree of Life ranked 79th on the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC s 100 Greatest American Films in 2015 114 as well as seventh in the 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century in August 2016 9 The latter list was compiled by polling 177 film critics from around the world In 2019 The Guardian ranked The Tree of Life 28th in its 100 best films of the 21st century list 115 In December 2019 The Tree of Life topped The Associated Press list of the best films of the 2010s 8 In March 2020 America magazine put the film on its The Top 25 Films from the Last 25 Years 47 In 2022 the film was ranked 196 in the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll 10 Accolades edit Main article List of accolades received by The Tree of Life film The film won the Palme d Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival 116 The film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Director and Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the 84th Academy Awards 117 The film won the 2011 FIPRESCI International Federation of Film Critics Big Prize for the Best Film Of the Year The award was presented on September 16 during the opening ceremony of the 59th San Sebastian International Film Festival 118 Malick released a statement of thanks for the award 119 On November 28 it was announced that the film had won the Gotham Award for Best Feature shared with Beginners 120 See also editList of films featuring dinosaursReferences edit a b Justin Chang May 16 2011 Cannes Competition The Tree of Life Variety Archived from the original on November 8 2012 Retrieved February 18 2020 The Tree of Life 12 British Board of Film Classification June 10 2011 Archived from the original on July 7 2013 Retrieved June 1 2013 The Tree of Life Box Office Mojo IMDb Archived from the original on January 25 2021 Retrieved January 25 2021 The Tree of Life The Numbers Nash Information Services LLC Archived from the original on March 6 2018 Retrieved January 25 2021 Skiba Justin May 16 2019 Eight years ago today The Tree of Life premieres at Cannes May 16 2011 Two Ways Through Life The Tree of Life 2011 Film Enthusiast Archived from the original on January 12 2021 Retrieved June 17 2019 Film Critic Top 10 Lists Best of 2011 Metacritic Archived from the original on April 13 2014 Retrieved June 3 2014 Best of 2011 CriticsTop10 Archived from the original on December 2 2016 Retrieved December 1 2016 a b Coyle Jake Bahr Lindsey December 13 2019 Tree of Life tops AP s best 10 films of the decade AP News Archived from the original on December 14 2019 Retrieved July 31 2020 a b The 21st Century s 100 Greatest Films BBC Culture August 23 2016 Archived from the original on January 31 2017 Retrieved August 16 2016 a b The Tree of Life 2010 BFI February 9 2022 Retrieved March 18 2024 a b Orr Christopher June 3 2011 The Tree Of Life A Beautiful Lyrical Mess The Atlantic Archived from the original on May 9 2022 Retrieved May 9 2022 Ebiri Bilge May 13 2011 How Everything in Terrence Malick s Career Has Built Toward The Tree of Life New York Magazine Nymag New York Magazine Archived from the original on August 9 2020 Retrieved August 7 2020 a b The Playlist Staff July 12 2011 The Lost Projects And Unproduced Screenplays Of Terrence Malick IndieWire Archived from the original on November 27 2020 Retrieved August 7 2020 Abele Robert September 9 2009 Pohlad holds out hope Variety Retrieved October 26 2010 a b Zeitchik Steven John Horn January 24 2012 Oscars 2012 How will Tree of Life be represented Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on August 29 2019 Retrieved January 26 2012 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said it had yet to determine which producers would be eligible for the best picture prize it s likely that Bill Pohlad and Sarah Green will be two of the producers Pohlad who financed the film had been developing it with Malick for about a decade while Green is Malick s longtime producer and close confidant The third slot could go to one of three people Grant Hill a producer who was involved with it early on Brad Pitt who came on to produce and then star or Dede Gardner Pitt s producing partner a b The Tree of Life A Conversation With Producer Dede Gardner thehdroom com October 13 2011 Archived from the original on February 29 2012 Retrieved January 26 2012 Bhushan Nyay August 31 2005 Percept finds Life with Malick feature The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on May 3 2008 Retrieved March 29 2008 Naval Shetye Aakanksha May 17 2006 Guess who s coming to town The Times of India Archived from the original on November 5 2012 Retrieved October 26 2010 a b Kavner Lucas June 11 2011 How Malick Built A Family In Tree Of Life HuffPost Archived from the original on October 28 2019 Retrieved August 7 2020 Arrival in The New World Extended Cut Blogtalkradio com October 29 2008 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Fleming Michael September 7 2010 Apparition Cuts Staff Nears Tree of Life Distribution Deal Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on November 8 2010 Retrieved October 26 2010 Thompson Anne September 13 2010 Waiting for Malick Which Film Fest Will Debut Tree of Life Archived from the original on October 18 2010 Retrieved October 26 2010 Announced Fox Searchlight Acquires Terrence Malick s TREE OF LIFE Fox Searchlight Pictures September 9 2010 Archived from the original on September 11 2010 Retrieved September 9 2010 Jagernauth Kevin October 22 2010 The Tree Of Life Gets May 27 2011 Release Date indieWire Archived from the original on October 25 2010 Retrieved October 22 2010 a b c O Hara Helen March 28 2011 The Tree of Life has A UK Release Date Empire Archived from the original on May 16 2011 Retrieved April 2 2011 Rules amp Regulations 2011 Archived from the original on December 3 2010 Retrieved April 2 2011 Wells Jeff March 28 2011 UK Tree of Life Release Shocker or Snafu 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2011 Retrieved September 10 2011 Brad Pitt Terrence Malick s Tree of Life booed in Cannes May 16 2011 Archived from the original on May 30 2012 Retrieved November 5 2011 Skiba Justin May 16 2019 Eight years ago today The Tree of Life premieres at Cannes May 16 2011 Two Ways Through Life The Tree of Life 2011 Film Enthusiast Archived from the original on January 12 2021 Retrieved June 17 2019 Ditzian Eric May 16 2011 The Tree Of Life The Cannes Reviews Are In Director Terrence Malick s first film since 2005 is getting widely mixed reactions after its Cannes premiere Mtv Archived from the original on June 19 2012 Retrieved January 26 2012 Tree of Life Sets Off Mixed Frenzy of Boos Applause Glowing Reviews Cannes 2011 The Hollywood Reporter May 16 2011 Retrieved January 26 2012 a b c d Germain David May 22 2011 Malick s Tree of Life wins top Cannes fest honor Forbes Retrieved May 22 2011 dead link Gritten David May 24 2011 The Tree of Life demands to be seen and experienced The Daily Telegraph UK Archived from the original on May 26 2011 Retrieved May 27 2011 The Tree of Life Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Media Archived from the original on October 29 2020 Retrieved January 15 2023 The Tree of Life Metacritic Fandom Inc Archived from the original on October 2 2018 Retrieved January 15 2023 The Tree of Life Chicago Sun Times June 2 2011 Archived from the original on April 7 2019 Retrieved August 22 2019 The greatest films of all time Chicago Sun Times April 26 2012 Archived from the original on June 18 2019 Retrieved February 18 2020 Lane Anthony May 30 2011 Time Trip The New Yorker Conde Nast Archived from the original on February 26 2015 Retrieved February 24 2015 The Tree of Life The Guardian London December 16 2010 Archived from the original on September 15 2019 Retrieved November 25 2019 Todd McCarthy May 16 2011 The Tree of Life Cannes Review The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on January 28 2020 Retrieved February 18 2020 Peter Travers May 26 2011 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978 162032 413 4 Sukhdev Sandhu July 7 2011 The Tree Of Life review The Daily Telegraph London Archived from the original on May 17 2018 Retrieved April 2 2018 Stephanie Zacharek CANNES REVIEW Tree of Life Is All About Life But Does Malick Care Much for People Movieline Archived from the original on May 21 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 Lee Marshall The Tree Of Life Screen Daily Archived from the original on May 21 2011 Retrieved May 16 2011 Zeitchik Steven June 22 2012 David Lynch says he doesn t have any ideas for a new film Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on October 3 2018 Retrieved February 18 2020 Patterson John May 2 2016 Terrence Malick has the legendary visionary finally lost the plot The Guardian Archived from the original on March 13 2017 Retrieved March 14 2017 Sean Penn on The Tree of Life Terry never managed to explain it clearly Archived April 11 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian Penn on Malick part deux Archived January 12 2021 at the Wayback Machine 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original on May 29 2015 Retrieved April 29 2015 The 100 greatest American films BBC July 20 2015 Archived from the original on September 16 2016 Retrieved February 17 2017 The 100 best films of the 21st century The Guardian September 13 2019 Archived from the original on September 13 2019 Retrieved September 17 2019 THE TREE OF LIFE Festival de Cannes Archived from the original on September 30 2020 Retrieved July 31 2020 THE 84TH ACADEMY AWARDS 2012 Oscars Archived from the original on April 17 2018 Retrieved July 31 2020 FIPRESCI the International Federation of Film Critics Archived from the original on February 24 2011 Retrieved April 17 2019 Sean Penn Has Issues But Recommends Tree Of Life Malick Says Burial Is Rushing Toward A Mix The Playlist August 22 2011 Archived from the original on November 7 2011 Retrieved November 5 2011 Szalai Georg November 28 2011 Gotham Awards 2011 Tree of Life Beginners Tie for Best Feature The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on November 30 2011 Retrieved November 28 2011 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to The Tree of Life film The Tree of Life at IMDb nbsp The Tree of Life at Rotten Tomatoes The Tree of Life Let the Wind Speak an essay by Kent Jones at the Criterion Collection Portals nbsp United States nbsp Film Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Tree of Life film amp oldid 1218540139, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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