{"id":11946,"date":"2011-05-23T05:02:24","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T04:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=11946"},"modified":"2011-05-23T05:02:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-23T04:02:24","slug":"the-tree-of-life-wins-the-palme-dor-oscar-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/05\/23\/the-tree-of-life-wins-the-palme-dor-oscar-chances\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tree of Life wins the Palme d’Or"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Will the Cannes win<\/a> for Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life<\/strong> boost its box office and awards season chances? <\/p>\n

Despite being the most eagerly awaited film at this year’s festival, it divided critical opinion after screening last Monday and tonight’s win was, for some pundits, something of a surprise.<\/p>\n

Can a film as bold and out there as Malick’s film is reported to be, really click with modern upscale audiences?<\/p>\n

Some might pour cold water on the idea of this film being an Oscar contender and an arthouse hit, as it seems to take the usual ingredients of Malick\u2019s films and takes them to new levels of sheer Malickness<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Take this paragraph from Todd McCarthy\u2019s review of the film for the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Brandishing an ambition it\u2019s likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfil, The Tree of Life is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry into mankind\u2019s place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves of insights amid its narrative imprecisions. This fifth feature in Terrence Malick\u2019s eccentric four-decade career is a beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables, asks the questions that religious and thoughtful people have posed for millennia and provokes expansive philosophical musings along with intense personal introspection”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Somehow I don\u2019t think this quote is going on the poster.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s also not forget the very existence of this film in 2011 is something of a miracle.<\/p>\n

Malick apparently approached Bill Pohlad<\/a>, the head of production company River Road<\/a>, several years ago with the basic idea for the project.<\/p>\n

Filming began in 2008 and over the course of three years Malick shot and refined the film which features an extended sequence<\/a> showing the birth of human existence (!); a family in 1950s Texas (starring Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain); and present day scenes of a man (Sean Penn) reflecting on his childhood.<\/p>\n