December 31, 2013 -- This odd Terrence Malick (“The New World”) film is an excercise in mood, mostly melancholy. This is like the opposite of the Beatles song, “All You Need is Love.” In this story, love isn't quite enough.

The story begins with two young lovers walking along the beach near Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy (this island was reportedly the inspiration for the design of the city of Minas Tirith in the “Lord of the Rings” movies). Malick is known for the gorgeous location cinematography in this films, and this is no exception.

The young lovers are Neil and Marina (Ben Affleck of “Argo” and Olga Kurylenko of “Quantum of Solace”). They turn out to be the opposite of the “happily ever after” in fairy tales. Marina and her young daughter, Tatiana (Tatiana Chiline) move with Neil to his home, a nondescript suburb in Oklahoma. Although they seem to be in love at first, Neil and Marina drift together and apart repeatedly.

Tatiana moves back to France to be live with her father and never looks back. Marina tries to move back to France, but ends up moving back to Oklahoma. Neil has a romance with an old friend, Jane (Rachel McAdams of “About Time”) but it doesn't take. The romance with Marina, who moves back to Oklahoma progresses to marriage, but it doesn't take, either.

Neil and Marina always seem distant and somewhat self-absorbed and unfulfilled, alone, even in each other's company. Marina is a woman caught between two worlds, France and Oklahoma. At first, she is a very carefree spirit, but becomes increasingly subdued in Neil's (and Oklahoma's) company. Another subdued character is a priest, Father Quintana (played by Javier Bardem of “No Country for Old Men”) who seems to be having a crisis of faith.

The scenes in Oklahoma are dominated by the dormant grasses and dormant trees of winter. Neil, who investigates pollution, wanders along blighted landscapes and dead streams. This is not a healthy environment. Only at the end of the film, when we see Marina back in France, do we finally see signs of spring, and Marina is dancing once again.

There is very little dialog in this slow moving film. It mostly consists of a lot of music and images. The narrative is paper thin and ambiguous in some places. It is very moody, sombre and melancholy for the most part, but very pretty to look at. Terrence Malick's films have not been very accessible in the past. If this one is any indication, they are becoming less so. This film rates a C.

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Copyright © 2013 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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