The Tree of Life

Plot

A family with three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence.

Release Year: 2011

Rating: 7.0/10 (58,196 voted)

Critic's Score: 85/100

Director:
Terrence Malick

Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain

Storyline
The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (

Cast:

Brad Pitt
–

Mr. O'Brien

Sean Penn
–

Jack

Jessica Chastain
–

Mrs. O'Brien

Hunter McCracken
–

Young Jack

Laramie Eppler
–

R.L.

Tye Sheridan
–

Steve

Fiona Shaw
–

Grandmother

Jessica Fuselier
–

Guide

Nicolas Gonda
–

Mr. Reynolds

Will Wallace
–

Architect

Kelly Koonce
–

Father Haynes

Bryce Boudoin
–

Robert

Jimmy Donaldson
–

Jimmy

Kameron Vaughn
–

Cayler

Cole Cockburn
–

Harry Bates

Details

Official Website:
Fox Searchlight [United States] |
Official site [Japan] |

Release Date: 17 May 2011

Filming Locations: Austin, Texas, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $32,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: €381,896
(Italy)
(22 May 2011)
(113 Screens)

Gross: $54,303,319
(Worldwide)
(27 October 2011)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

Emmanuel Lubezki explained Terrence Malick's approach to film by saying "Photography is not used to illustrate dialogue or a performance" but instead is used "to capture emotion so that the movie is very experiential". So the film, with Lubezki's own words, is "meant to trigger tons of memories, like a scent or a perfume".

Goofs:

Anachronisms:
Mrs O'Brien's dish-washing liquid comes in a clear plastic container, was invented after the 50s.

Quotes:

[first lines]

Jack:
[voice-over]
Brother.

User Review

Thank god it's over… Definitely not for everybody.

Rating: 1/10


I don't expect the majority of viewers to agree with me as it already
has a decent rating, but if you searched for people who hated this film
then I suspect you will probably dislike it, and I am going to spare
you the unfortunate experience I had of going to see it.

Just to state my preferences and for your orientation, I have enjoyed
many of the artistic offerings from the IMDb top recommendations, but I
prefer my fare more straightforward.

I'll just fly in the face of protocol now and say I had no clue what
this film was about. I wanted to leave after 20 minutes but my
girlfriend insisted to stay to the end to see what the point was. Other
people did leave in the middle of the film and there was a lot of
fidgeting going on in the cinema. For the first time in my life I dozed
off for a few minutes in a cinema.

There is no plot – only a stream of images following two boys through
their childhood and also a flashback to the the creation of the earth.
The cinematography was quite impressive but the overall result was
oh-so-dull. I am sure there was a point but I just could not be
bothered to try to understand it.

Apologies to aficionados. I don't mean to be derogatory about this
film. I only want to save some people from sitting through it who would
not like it.