Starring: Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 112 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2013
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To begin with, a caution which may be helpful in approaching To the Wonder. Writer-director, Terrence Mallick has made very few films in 40 years, Badlands, Days of Heaven in the 1970s, then The Thin Red Line in 1998, The New World in 2005. More recently he has become very active, with The Tree of Life, both a cosmic exploration and a focus on an ordinary family and ordinary human beings, in 2010. There are several films in process of production. The first to be released is To the Wonder.
And the caution? Narrative clarity is not a clear concern for Mallick. There is a narrative but his preferred way of communicating is more like visual art, music and poetry. The film is arresting to look at: the first part is in France, in tourist attraction places like the Luxembourg Gardens as well as the ordinary streets in Paris, the French countryside and a visit to Mont Saint Michel, the monastic island which can be cut off from the mainland of France at high tide. Its chapel and gardens are a wonder. The next part of the film is set in Oklahoma, very flat territory, rather monotonous suburban streets and homes, open fields, and watercourses that have to be tested for pollution.
Words are to a minimum. In the French section, it is French that is mainly spoken and there are subtitles. Later in the film, in Oklahoma, there is again some French but there is also a Hispanic character who speaks in Spanish, with subtitles.
Some reviewers have found Mallick’s filmmaking exhilaratingly artistic and poetic. Other audiences, who prefer straightforward communication, have found the film baffling or bewildering, Many not prepared to give it their attention.
Having said this, it is important to say that Mallick has a very distinctive type of film making, attractive and interesting in its way, but building up a niche market rather than appealing to the wide audience.
The story is in many ways very simple: an American and a Ukrainian refugee in France fall in love; she has a daughter; they are together but he cannot commit to marriage; we share their passionate love for each other. It is different in Oklahoma. He has a job as an engineer. She languishes. Her daughter wants to reconnect with her father and leaves. There are some complications, coming and goings in the life of the woman and the engineer. At one stage, he is compensating by taking up a relationship with a friend from school. She is Protestant and evangelical, quoting St. Paul, reading her bible in public, asking the engineer to pray with her.
The other central character is a Hispanic priest. He works in a parish in Oklahoma, has a very distinctive outreach to the poor and marginalized. He communicates well with them and is concerned for them. The engineer is a catholic and attends mass. The woman comes to confession and communion, her prelude to a very bad decision she makes which has an effect on the relationship.
For audiences with interest in religion, struggles with personal belief, the reality of prayer and an interior life, the priest character would be most interesting. We hear his questions, his longing for God, for a sense of God’s presence. He is in some dark night of senses and soul. We glimpse his loneliness as he is filmed walking detached through a joyful wedding reception. It is not as if he has lost faith. Rather, his desire for a greater awareness of faith and the presence of God he is a desire for prayer, is prayer itself. Towards the end he prays the breastplate of St Patrick.
So here is a rather commonplace story, presented with visual flair, poetic style, expecting the audience to do a lot of work in their responses, filling in the gaps, reflecting on the characters and their situations, on their stances and values.
The final image of the film is Mont Saint Michel, an ending to indicate some of the deeper meanings of the film experience.
Ben Affleck plays the engineer. Olga Kurylenko plays the woman. Rachel McAdams plays the friend. Javier Bardem plays the priest, and very effectively.
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