Terence Malicks' "TREE OF LIFE"

Gotta admit, you might have me there. By the wounded dinosaur, do you mean the dinosaur on the beach? Or the one by the riverside? It must be the one on the beach... and I'd need to see it again to remember the music there. I remember a bit of Tavener appeared before, and there was some Hanan Townsend droning style piece as well, which might appear when Jack steals the dress and throws it in the river, but that also comes before the scene you describe. Yeah, I think I need to see it again.

Repetition of music is interesting in this film. Found music is shuffled around much like Kubrick would, linking moods and moments across the story. Often they are presented in new, quieter arrangements though, which is not something Kubrick tended to do (he tended towards static musical objects that didn't change with the narrative). The typical pattern in TREE OF LIFE is of two appearances, with the second appearance of a piece of music in some way relating that moment to the first. (E.g. Respighi's Andantino warmly underscores the growth in the womb of Jack and his parents early love. It returns in a piano arrangement from Hanan Townsend as Jack's father reflects on the failure of his career, and how he failed to see the things that mattered.)



The track that appears as Jack walks through the house (quoting the apostle Paul), is a piano version of Zbigniew Preisner's 'Lacrimosa'. The orchestral/vocal version appears earlier during the beginning of the universe. The composer/arranger is one Hanan Townsend, who is responsible for many of the piano arrangements that appear in the film's second half. I think in this case he might be have been asked to produce an arrangement of 'Lacrimosa' that 'sounded like Desplat', because it does work in a similar way to Desplat's own cues for the film 'Childhood', but with different melodic content. The reason why Lacrimosa is being repeated at this point, is that I think given the circumstances of the brother's death, as he recalls this incident, Jack is wondering about how much his own nature might have contributed to his brother not being able to make it in the world. Certainly by consciously sensing a return to this music, it took my mind back to the emotion that had started this tour through memories. The epic pain of Lacrimosa creeps back quietly in the piano after this small but memorable act of violence.

[Several of the key pieces appear in the film twice and sometimes in different arrangements -- e.g. Mahler, Respighi, Couperin, Tavener's Funeral Canticle.]

One of Desplat's tracks occurs shortly after that, when Jack is reconciled to his brother. It's one of the few to mostly appear in entirety, and is called 'Clouds'.



One night, the Mother tells the story of how the Father took her on a flight when they were courting. Shortly after, we see her floating in the front yard in front of the oak tree (a reference to Tarkovsky's Mirror, perhaps). Gorecki appears on the flight, and I think (but am not certain), partly carries over to the floating image.

Fantastic that you keep a far more detailed memory of these things than I, franz. So thank you again. Couldn't the the use of piano Lacrimosa in the weathered house also signify loss and "dying" itself? I mean, the creation sequence with the huge choral arrangement is - in my view - a comment not only on the magnificence of creation, but also the immense tragedy that can appear when that self-same magnificence chooses to take away one of its creations (the brother). After all, 'lacrimosa' is latin for 'crying'.

Speaking of asteroids, do you know what music played when the asteroid/meteorite appears and crashes, causing the demise of the dinosaurs?

It's interesting that you note that the film is basically structured around the cause and effect of the brother's death - both physically and metaphysically. I'm not sure it can properly explain the various paths of the narrative, although it may certainly help explain the path of the CHARACTERS' development.

Thor, you may find this useful:

ASTEROID music:


On the other link between music, the wounded dinosaur / post-dress music, here are the references:



I don't know that piece.

This information gathered from this resource, which I just found:
http://www.terrencemalick.org/2011/09/t … -list.html

I saw it three times, spaced a few weeks apart each time.

Maybe more music should be tracked into films from other sources? Original music for a film isn't getting the same level of analysis and/or discussion.

The thought comes to me every now and then. I remember though how little time I used to have when I was writing regularly online, which scarred me a bit. I have recently considered writing something lengthy about the way music works in film, although I'm not convinced other filmmakers would read it. (Or that I'd have the time to do it justice.)

EDIT - actually, that's a poor excuse. It's just whether the time is worth it, that's all.

Arty films by famous directors tend to generate more discussion/analysis, in general, than your average commercial film.

I don't mean here -- obviously here it's a bit odd for a thread to be dissected this much for a film that largely used pre-existing music.

I wish there was a film with an original score from the last couple of years that I found worthy of spending time thinking about.

Yes, sorry -- there have been good scores -- just not in films that I felt worth devoting a lot of thought to.

I read that he's got one in post-production and is already shooting his next two, back-to-back. How uncharacteristic! Sure we'll get three outstanding albums from three top film composers from it all (not to mention three beautiful films).

TREE OF LIFE is a gem. I'd be interesting on hearing Desplat's reflections on it after seeing the film though. I wonder how he felt about it after seeing. He said beforehand it was a privilege even if nothing was used, and Malick appeared to think that was worth putting to the test.

As for the three new films: bring it on. Just keep delivering.

Yeah but it worked wonders for tree of life, his most accomplished film to date, also in the audio musical field as well.

I was hoping that we had seen the last of this topic!