The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is a 2011 American drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick, and starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain. Malick's film chronicles the origins and meaning of life through the eyes of a 1950's Texas family, while also featuring sci-fi and surrealist themes and imagery through space and the birth of life on Earth, drawing comparisons in particular to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d'Or, after being in development by Malick for decades, and experiencing a delay from its original release in late-2009. It later opened in limited release on May 27, 2011 to overwhelming positive reviews on its technical and artistic merits, yet also received polarizing reactions in response to Malick's directorial style and, in particular, with the film's fragmented and non-linear narrative.

Movie Synopsis
The film opens with a quotation from the Book of Job, when God asks, "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation...while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" A mysterious, wavering light that resembles a flame emerges. The film cuts to Mrs. O'Brien (Jessica Chastain) as she receives a telegram informing her of her son's death at age 19. Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt) is notified by telephone. The family is thrown into a world of grief as they try to cope in their tidy suburban home.

Jack O'Brien (Sean Penn) is adrift in his modern life as an architect. On the phone with his father, he confesses that he thinks about his dead brother every day. When he sees a tree being planted in front of a building, he begins the central reminiscence of the film.

Movie Trailer
The Tree of Life Trailer



Movie Credit
Director: Terrence Malick
Writer: Terrence Malick
Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain

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