On The Tree of Life (Extended version)
The first thing to know is that this is not a “preferred” cut by the director. It is what it was before it became the “theatrical” cut, when all the beautiful buoyant moments were stripped out to make the film more interpretive, enduring and enigmatic. The broad strokes are all there from what we knew before, but in between are quick slashes of painted impressionistic light bringing more vitality and flourish to scenes long since memorized by its most cherishing viewers. Take, for example, the “eternity” scenes at the end of the film, there is, for a brief second, an ethereal-robed girl carrying a rose as she gingerly steps through the sunset waters overwashing a ribbon of tidal flat. She is lit like a pre-Raphaelite water color vivid in its delicacy and precision. Without such an enigmatic shot, it would not impact the scene whatsoever, but with its addition, it makes the sequence all the more haunting. At the beginning, older Jack has been given more screen time, but it isn