To the Wonder.

Mont St. Michel enriches the romance of Neil and Marina.

Normally I would not give away too much of a movies plot, but in the case of To the Wonder (2012) I feel a little prior knowledge could help understand what

 transpires on the screen!

Neil (Ben Affleck) is an American traveling in Europe who meets and falls in love with Marina (Olga Kurylenko), a Ukrainian divorcee who is raising her 10-year-old daughter Tatiana in Paris. The lovers travel to Mont St. Michel, the island abbey off the coast of Normandy, basking in the wonder of their newfound romance.  Neil makes a commitment to Marina, inviting her to relocate to his native Oklahoma with Tatiana. He takes a job as an environmental inspector and Marina settles into her new life in America with passion and vigour. After a short while, their relationship cools. Marina finds solace in the company of another exile, the Catholic priest Father Quintana (Javier Bardem), who is undergoing a crisis of faith. Work pressures and increasing doubt pull Neil further apart from Marina, who returns to France with Tatiana when her visa expires. Neil reconnects with Jane (Rachel McAdams), an old flame. They fall in love until Neil learns that Marina has fallen on hard times. Gripped by a sense of responsibility, and his own crisis of faith, he renews his association with Marina after another trip to France. She returns with him to Oklahoma, resuming her American life.[1]

 

Neil and his childhood sweetheart Jane on the plains of Oklahoma.

Although Malick is credited with writing the script for this movie, it has been alleged that the cast worked without a screenplay. Not difficult considering that this abstract romantic drama has no real dialog. It consists mainly of narration spoken in French and Spanish from two of the films main characters, the Ukrainian divorcee Marina and the Catholic priest Father Quintana. The film certainly does not fall into what could be described as a normal narrative format and anyone expecting to see a plot driven romance: forget it!

There is no doubt that the seventy year old Terrence Malick is a very unique filmmaker and like his last film Tree of Life (2010) his latest cinematic offering is a joy to look at. Mexican born Emmanuel Lubezki is the Director of Photography on both these films and they certainly benefit from his masterful touch. It brings to mind Antonioni’s Red Desert (1964).

 

A conflict of faith for Father Quintana.

Malick’s film was the final review of the American film critic Roger Ebert before his death on April 4^th from which I borrow a quote ‘Malick, who is surely one of the most romantic and spiritual of filmmaker, appears almost naked here before his audience, a man not able to conceal the depth of his vision’[2] I could not agree more, the movie does appear autobiographical and encourages the viewer to feel the pain of the protagonists. A movie not necessary for every one, but one that does emphasise the craft of an immensely skilful filmmaker.

---

[1] Written with the help of the synopsis from the press notes that do give a clear outline of the story.

[2] Roger Ebert 6^th April 2013 Chicago Sun-Times 

The Tree of Life.

Earths Beginnings.

The Meaning of life?

I can categorically state that Terrence Malick’s latest movie, his first for six years, is strangely different from many other movies you would have seen.  Amongst a great deal of critical controversy The Tree of Life (2010) won this years Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s a film full of wonderful images with marvellous use of sound and developed from three separate narratives. The central story is of a middle class family, mum, dad and three boys living in late 1950’s Waco Texas. Mr O’Brien (Brad Pitt) is head of the family; a disciplinarian who seems to believe in the old adage that its best to be cruel to be kind. A man who gave up a musical career to become a manager at the local oil plant. Mrs O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) dotes over her three boys, not always supporting her husband in his strictness regime, and who along with the boys, enjoys a certain amount of freedom when her husband is away on his long business trips. The families story is revealed via the present day, recounted through by the troubled eldest son Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn) now an architect working in a high-rise glass tower in Dallas. Looking back at his childhood he relates how the death of his youngest brother at the age of nineteen effected him greatly, an incident that casts a great shadow over the complete film. Jacks subconscious wants nothing more than the whole family to be reunited. The most surreal section of the film is the imagery showing the inception of earth and the origins of life. Malick successfully works the sections together, but not in the form of a linear narrative.

The movie begins with a quotation from the Bible’s Book of Job “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determined its measurements – surely you know” A film full of spiritual symbolism and as one critic commented ‘rich in prayer and beauty’ which is emphasised for me by the gentle acting of Jessica Chastain as mother and wife, a character that seems to float rather than move through the film. As I said in my opening this is not your standard Picture House fodder, it’s a movie that viewers will have to assess themselves. Malick posses the question, why and for what do we exist? No two people will draw the same concussions. In my opinion the answer he gives, is family, that vague dream of happiness that we sometimes allow ourselves and maybe success in life. I would be interested to know what you think!!