To the Wonder (2012)

Director:

Terrence Malick

Writer (WGA):

Terrence Malick (written by)

Release Date:

22 February 2013 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

After visiting Mont Saint-Michel, Marina and Neil come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Marina meets a priest and fellow exile, who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane.

Plot Keywords:

Faith | Crisis Of Faith | Love | Priest | Daughter

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Ben Affleck	...	Neil
Olga Kurylenko	...	Marina
Rachel McAdams	...	Jane
Javier Bardem	...	Father Quintana
Tatiana Chiline	...	Tatiana
Romina Mondello	...	Anna
Tony O'Gans	...	Sexton
Charles Baker	...	Carpenter
Marshall Bell	...	Bob
Casey Williams	...	Neighbor #1
Jack Hines	...	Neighbor #2
Paris Always	...	Classmate #1
Samaria Folks	...	Classmate #2
Jamie Conner	...	Teenage Girl with Baby
Francis Gardner	...	Woman at Wedding
Gregg Elliott	...	Parish Council President
Michael Bumpus	...	Doctor
Lois Boston	...	Lois
Danyeil Inman	...	Homeless Woman
Bobby Davis Horsley	...	Convict
Wigi Black	...	Lori
Ashley Clark	...	Deaf Woman
Terry York	...	Interpreter
Darryl Cox	...	Neighbor #3
William Riddle	...	Landlord
Russell Vaclaw	...	Justice of the Peace
Kenneth Woodhams	...	Pastor
Amy Christiansen	...	Mrs. Hart
Brian Christiansen	...	Mr. Hart
Emma Johnson	...	Carhop
Bruce Peabody	...	Lawyer
Tamar Baruch	...	Stepmother
Michael Anderson	...	Visitor
Darren Patnode	...	DEQ Investigator
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Doug Van Liew	...	Insolent Man
Dan Corley	...	Staranger 1 (uncredited)
Ginger Gilmartin	...	Woman with Cancer (uncredited)
Tom Macdonald	...	Anna's Lover (uncredited)
Scott Mason	...	Congregation Member (uncredited)
Cassidee Vandalia	...	Bride (uncredited)

Directed by
Terrence Malick

Writing credits (WGA) (in alphabetical order)
Terrence Malick		written by

Produced by
Glen Basner	....	executive producer
Charley Beil	....	associate producer
Nicolas Gonda	....	producer
Hans Graffunder	....	co-producer
Sarah Green	....	producer
Jason Krigsfeld	....	executive producer
Joseph Krigsfeld	....	executive producer
Morgan Pollitt	....	associate producer
Tyler Savage	....	artistic collaborator
Sandhya Shardanand	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Hanan Townshend

Cinematography by
Emmanuel Lubezki

Film Editing by
A.J. Edwards
Keith Fraase
Shane Hazen
Christopher Roldan
Mark Yoshikawa

Casting by
Chris Freihofer

Production Design by
Jack Fisk

Art Direction by
David Crank

Set Decoration by
Jeanette Scott

Costume Design by
Jacqueline West

Makeup Department
Alessandro Bertolazzi	....	key makeup artist
Carla Brenholtz	....	key make up
Turid Follvik	....	makeup: France
Catherine A. Marcotte	....	key hair stylist
Tu Nguyen	....	makeup: France
Tina Roesler Kerwin	....	makeup department head
Kelvin R. Trahan	....	department head hair

Production Management
Michel Ferry	....	production manager: France
Hans Graffunder	....	unit production manager
Sarah Green	....	unit production manager
Jesse Torres	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Keri Bruno	....	second second assistant director
Aurore Coppa	....	assistant director: France
Giselle Gurza	....	second assistant director
Geoffroy Koeberle	....	third assistant director: second unit
Nicolas Rebeschini	....	assistant director
Batan Silva	....	first assistant director (as Sebastián Silva)

Art Department
Eunha Choi	....	designer: main and end title, Prologue Films
Ruth De Jong	....	assistant art director
Sean P. Egan	....	leadman
Madison Fisk	....	art department production assistant
Chris Holik	....	set dresser
Elliott Hostetter	....	property master
Jaime Lovell	....	art department production assistant
Darren Patnode	....	on-set dresser
Colin Warde	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Erik Aadahl	....	sound designer
David Bach	....	additional dialogue editor
Craig Berkey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Craig Berkey	....	supervising sound editor
Sarah Bourgeois	....	assistant sound editor
Jenna Dalla Riva	....	foley recordist
Joel Dougherty	....	supervising sound editor
Dominique Eyraud	....	boom operator: France
Sandra Fox	....	foley assistant
Jonathan Fuh	....	boom operator
José Antonio García	....	sound mixer
Mark Genfan	....	mixing stage consultant
Jack Heeren	....	foley recording mixer
Adam Kopald	....	sound effects editor
Goro Koyama	....	foley artist
Daniel Lanois	....	sonics and variations
Helen Luttrell	....	dialogue editor
Brian Magerkurth	....	sound mix technician
Andy Malcolm	....	foley artist
Sahm McGlynn	....	sound utility
Will Patterson	....	sound design intern
Matt Reale	....	re-recording engineer
Hamilton Sterling	....	foley editor
Tom Sturgis	....	boom operator: reshoots
Brigitte Taillandier	....	sound: France
John Joseph Thomas	....	sound effects editor
Don White	....	foley recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Patrick Clancey	....	digital opticals
Gus Duron	....	digital opticals editor
Andrew Francis	....	dailies & D.I colorist: Efilm
Philippe Majdalani	....	digital intermediate assistant producer

Camera and Electrical Department
Will Arnot	....	Steadicam operator
Will Arnot	....	camera operator: re-shoots
Paul Atkins	....	director of photography: second unit
Rodney Autaubo	....	grip
Mark Bain	....	film loader
Billy Beaird	....	best boy grip
Erik L. Brown	....	1st assistant camera: "a" camera and Steadicam
Mary Cybulski	....	still photographer
Camille de Chenay	....	camera runner
Camille de Chenay	....	camera runner: France
Pat Flanagan	....	daily first assistant camera: second unit
Dean Georgopoulos	....	b unit camera operator
Dean Georgopoulos	....	digital imaging technician: red camera
Stéphane Germain	....	key grip: French crew
Dikega Hadnot	....	assistant to cinematographer
Jean-Pierre Lacroix	....	gaffer: France
Tak Matsuda	....	best boy electric
Ryan McGuire	....	key grip
Matthew Mebane	....	additional first assistant camera
Matthew Mebane	....	second assistant camera: "a" camera
Benoît Meignan	....	additional camera loader
Kyle Osburn	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Benoît Pain	....	second assistant camera: France
Luc Pallet	....	first assistant camera: France
Alexis Robin	....	camera loader: France
Peter Simonite	....	additional cinematographer
Jörg Widmer	....	camera operator
Bobby Wotherspoon	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Meriem Amari	....	casting associate
Nikki Benson	....	casting intern
Ashley Cain	....	casting intern
Sarah Clark	....	casting assistant
Stefni Colle	....	casting intern
Aimee Diamond	....	casting intern
Daniel Edwards	....	European casting department
Stéphane Foenkinos	....	casting associate
Luciano Silighini Garagnani	....	extras casting
Mirta Guarnaschelli	....	Italian casting
Marlo Holly	....	casting intern
Robin Hudson	....	European casting director
Malou Schultzberg	....	casting department
Jeff Wohlgemuth	....	casting intern

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Caroline Condat	....	costumer: France
Naomi Gathmann	....	key costumer
Courtney Hoffman	....	costumer
Tom Macdonald	....	costume supervisor
Reiko Porter	....	set costumer: additional photography

Editorial Department
Traci Duran	....	first assistant editor
Élodie Ichter	....	colorist assist: Efilm
Mindy Le	....	post-production assistant
Curtis Lindersmith	....	digital intermediate editor
Yvan Lucas	....	film colorist
Jonatán López	....	editorial assistant
Jamie Meyer	....	associate editor
Loan Phan	....	digital intermediate producer
Tom Reiser	....	second colorist: EFilm
Sean Rowe	....	digital dailies
Brian Scofield	....	post-production assistant
Jim Passon	....	color timer (uncredited)

Music Department
Brad Engleking	....	music editor
Tim Laughlin	....	conductor
Francesco Lupica	....	composer: additional music
Lauren Marie Mikus	....	music supervisor
Diana Mino	....	music preparation
Diana Mino	....	orchestrator
Cassie Shankman	....	assistant to composer
Jerod Tate	....	composer: theme music

Transportation Department
Desiree Bab	....	driver
Saloma Davenport	....	driver
Michael Day	....	driver
Darran Douglas	....	driver
Craig Fehrman	....	transportation coordinator
Phil Helman	....	transportation captain
Tim Helman	....	driver
Lew Homme	....	driver
Wayne Parvianen	....	driver
Fred Williams	....	driver
David York	....	driver

Other crew
Janine Altongy	....	humanity unit consultant
Matt Ballou	....	intern
Spencer Beighley	....	assistant to mr. affleck
Virginia Benavidez	....	intern
Nikki Benson	....	intern
Sally Bergom	....	intern
Whitney Bishop	....	assistant to sarah green
Chelsea Boatman	....	intern
William 'Ted' Brady	....	accounting clerk
Lizzy Brogan	....	post production coordinator
Shane Brown	....	location scout
Ryan Burkholder	....	intern
Bianca Chiminello	....	production assistant
Stefni Colle	....	intern
Adam Connors	....	intern
Aurore Coppa	....	assistant: France
Charles Crane	....	intern
Casey Crowdis	....	assistant location manager
Casey Crowdis	....	location assistant
Lagueria Davis	....	office production assistant
Jennifer Dee	....	intern
Rebecca Fulton	....	script supervisor
Jessica Fuselier	....	community outreach coordinator
Stephen Gamache	....	intern
Landry Gideon	....	intern
Lya Guerra	....	production consultant
Lori Hammond	....	craft service
Justin Hernandez	....	intern
Raphael Horlait	....	assistant locations manager: France
Andrew Huber	....	intern
Andrew Huber	....	production assistant
Claire Huie	....	intern
Caitlin Hunter	....	intern
Mark Jarrett	....	location consultant
Alec Jhangiani	....	production consultant
Andrew Grey Johnson	....	first assistant accountant
James Johnston	....	intern
Chase Joliet	....	intern
Genghis Jorgensen	....	production assistant
Max Juran	....	intern
Asa Kenny	....	assistant chef
Matthew Kerwin	....	intern
Scott Kimbrough	....	key assistant location manager
Chris Kucharski	....	film & music liason: Oklahoma
T.J. Larson	....	intern
Marie Le Grevellec	....	runner: France
Mindy Le	....	intern
Shayna Lehmer	....	on-set teacher
Jebadiah Lemos	....	assistant chef
Elizabeth Lodge	....	assistant to mr. gonda
Jontan Lopez	....	intern
Tristan Love	....	intern
Gabriella Ludlow	....	production legal
Ben Lynch	....	set production assistant
Alexandra Malick	....	ambassador of good will
Natalie Mattox	....	location assistant
Scott Maxon	....	assistant production coordinator
Brandon McCartney	....	intern
John McDaniel	....	intern
Mike Mcdonald	....	assistant chef
David Melito	....	production accountant
Alex Milan	....	intern
Jean-Francois Montminy	....	chef
Jessica Nabers	....	intern
Bénédicte Page	....	location manager: France
Kilee Panick	....	intern
Molly Panick	....	intern
John K. Patterson	....	location manager
Agathe Peltereau-Villeneuve	....	dialogue translator
Julio Quintana	....	humanity unit consultant
Karen Ramirez	....	production coordinator
Nicolas Rebeschini	....	assistant locations manager: France
Beth Reed	....	intern
Austin Reedy	....	intern
Cody Reidinger	....	intern
Stacey Rice	....	intern
Eugene Richards	....	humanity unit primary consultant
James Patrick Robinson	....	intern
Molly Routt	....	production secretary
Wesley Rumph	....	production intern
Matt Saitas	....	set production assistant
Matt Salazar	....	payroll accountant
Stephen Salisbury	....	intern
Drew Saplin	....	production assistant
Drew Saplin	....	set production assistant
Brian Scofield	....	intern
Eddie Shore	....	intern
Katherine Silva	....	accounting intern
Christopher Skillern	....	intern
Wilson Smith	....	intern
Adam Sorin	....	intern
Courtney Stephens	....	assistant to director
Meghann Sumner	....	intern
Daniel Tarr	....	assistant to mr. bardem
Dustin Thompson	....	intern
Ryan Thompson	....	location assistant
Ryan Thompson	....	location production assistant
Todd M. Thompson	....	Sound Department intern
Bill Toothman	....	set medic
Carris Toothman	....	set medic
Ed Travis	....	intern
Jessica Vasami	....	intern
Chase Wagner	....	intern
Morgan Wajda-Levie	....	intern
Caroline Wallace	....	intern
Taylor Ward	....	intern
Nancy Woods	....	intern
Danny Yirgou	....	intern
Susan Hegarty	....	dialect coach: Rachel Weisz (uncredited: scenes deleted)

Thanks
Gracie Atkins	....	special thanks
Elizabeth Avellan	....	special thanks
Tim Bart	....	special thanks
Lisa Beeman	....	special thanks
Hélène Cardona	....	special thanks
Shari Carpenter	....	special thanks
Bettisu Casey	....	special thanks
Alison S. Cohen	....	special thanks
Chris Daigle	....	special thanks (as Fr. Chris Daigle)
Rick Delena	....	special thanks
Annie Dell Reed	....	special thanks
Jackie Edwards	....	special thanks
Callie Elred	....	special thanks
Leslie Gonda	....	special thanks
Maria Swindell Gus	....	special thanks
Stu Gus	....	special thanks
Rick Hess	....	special thanks
Hardwick Johnson	....	special thanks
Kahlil Joseph	....	special thanks
Georgia Kacandes	....	special thanks
Mark Kane	....	special thanks
Tom Lowe	....	special thanks
Barbara Martin	....	special thanks
Steve Martin	....	special thanks
Mike McCartney	....	special thanks
Jack McNees	....	special thanks
George Meyers	....	special thanks
Tasia Moore	....	special thanks
Terry O'Brien	....	special thanks
Kathryn Ostien	....	special thanks
Bill Pohlad	....	special thanks
Julie Porter	....	special thanks
Bronwyn Preston	....	special thanks
Andreas Roald	....	special thanks
Donald Rosenfeld	....	special thanks
Allison Silver	....	special thanks
Peter Simonite	....	special thanks
Jill Simpson	....	special thanks
Lee Stephens	....	special thanks (as Fr. Lee Stephens)
Bryan Unger	....	special thanks
Russell Vaclaw	....	special thanks (as Honorable Russell Vaclaw)
Marty Wekser	....	special thanks
Patrick Whitesell	....	special thanks
Beverly Wood	....	special thanks
Kurt Woolner	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Brothers K Productions (presents)
• Redbud Pictures (copyright holder)

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2013) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Budapest Film (2013) (Hungary) (theatrical)
• Diamond Films (2013) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Lev Cinemas (2013) (Israel) (theatrical)
• Longride (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2013) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (2013) (France) (theatrical)
• Roadshow Film Distributors (NZ) Ltd. (2013) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
• Roadshow Film Distributors (2013) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Sam Film (2013) (Iceland) (theatrical)
• Ster-Kinekor Pictures (2013) (South Africa) (theatrical)
• StudioCanal (2013) (Germany) (theatrical)
• StudioCanal (2013) (UK) (theatrical)
• Vértigo Films (2013) (Spain) (theatrical)
• 01 Rai Cinema (2013) (Italy) (all media)
• Amero PT (2013) (Indonesia) (all media)
• Ascot Elite Entertainment Group (2013) (Switzerland) (all media)
• Cinemania Group (2013) (Serbia and Montenegro) (all media) (former Yugoslavia)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Bulgaria) (all media)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Czech Republic) (all media)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Hungary) (all media)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Poland) (all media)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Romania) (all media)
• Eastern European Acquisition Pool (EEAP) (2013) (Slovakia) (all media)
• H.G.C. Entertainment (2013) (China) (all media)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2013) (Thailand) (all media)
• Italia Film (2013) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)
• Kalinos Filmcilik (2013) (Turkey) (all media)
• Lusomundo Audiovisuais (2013) (Portugal) (all media)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• Nordisk Film (2013) (Denmark) (all media) (Scandinavia)
• Odeon (2013) (Cyprus) (all media)
• Odeon (2013) (Greece) (all media)
• Prorom Media-Trade (2013) (Romania) (all media)
• Studio Solutions Group (SSG) (2013) (Taiwan) (all media)
• Sun Distribution (2013) (Uruguay) (all media) (Latin America)
• VVS Films (2013) (Canada) (all media)
• Vértigo Films (2013) (Spain) (all media)
• West Video (2013) (Russia) (all media) (CIS)
• Zon Audiovisuais (2013) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• ARRI / Camera Service Center  camera equipment provided by
• Ammonite  starlight camera
• Audio Head Post  sound mix stages
• B.A. Department, The  business and legal affairs
• Codex Digital  digital recording equipment
• DeLuxe Laboratories  digital motion picture laboratory services
• EFilm  digital intermediate
• Film Finances  completion bond
• Footsteps Post-Production Sound Inc.  foley recorded at
• Francine Maisler & Associates  casting
• Freihofer Casting  extras casting
• Lakeshore Records  soundtrack
• Panavision Woodland Hills  anamorphic camera package
• Troublemaker Studios  sound mix stages

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for some sexuality/nudity

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish | Italian | Sign Languages

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Datasat

Certification:

USA:R | Canada:14A | UK:12A | Ireland:12A | Hong Kong:IIB | France:U | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Denmark:A | Switzerland:16 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Mont Saint-Michel, Manche, France

Company:

Brothers K Productions

Trivia:

With this film's release in 2012 and The Tree of Life (2011) being released in 2011, this is the shortest time gap between movies for director Terrence Malick, the gap being only a year. Malick is famous for waiting years between projects. His shortest time gap between films previously was five years, between Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978). His longest was 20 years, between Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line (1998).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Jane and Neil get out of their car in the midst of the bison, cameras reflected in the car windows and doors in various shots.

Quotes:

Marina:I write on water what I dare not say.

Movie Connections:

Features The Tree of Life (2011)

Soundtrack:

Troops Advance

Explain nothing, show everything. A great ethereal love story.

Some people say that film is like a language, but that is not exactly right, it is like language itself, and just as there are different languages, there are different cinemas. It seems to me that, in his last two films, Terrence Malick has been creating a very special type of cinema, that had hitherto existed only in an embryonic form. While most films have maybe 50-100 scenes, replete with dialogue and action, Malick's new cinema (MNC) has over twice that number of scenes, but they are fragmentary and consist of only the essence of meaning that was in a scene that would normally have been much longer. This can be sometimes several minutes or only a couple of brief shots.

Last evening I drove the 25 miles to see the early performance of 'To the Wonder'. I did that with the intention of returning to write this review while the film was still fresh in my mind. But after it I was so drained that I couldn't write a summary, let alone a review. At the current (late) stage in my life, what interests me most about the cinema is its limits. How far can the cinema go, and what exactly is a film?

Given the above, Terrence Malick is evidently the man for me, and I am convinced that 'The Tree of Life' is among the five greatest works of this greatest of the arts. So, after a masterpiece 30 years in the gestation and three + in the creation, how would Malick fare with a film relatively thrown together in a year or so?

On the face of it, this is a story of the relationship which starts in Paris between an American (environmentalist?), Neil, and an otherworldly French woman (Marina). When they return to mid-west America, Marina suffers from a sense of dislocation made greater when he daughter decides to go and live with her father in France.

But Malick seems much less interested in the *events* which he depicts than in expressing the feelings of the characters. Just the same way that 'The Tree of Life' was an *impression* of childhood, rather than the story of a childhood, 'To the Wonder' is an impression of a love affair, rather than its story. This is cinema infused in every shot with Heidegger's *dasein*. The logic of Malick's cinema is to *perfectly* catch the moment, and in doing so extract the truth of the experience. Hence, for Malick, a film story, is simply an assembly of 'essences'. These essences stay in the mind to thrill and haunt us.

There have been other examples of great filmmakers who have made films exploring the cinema's intimate connection with mental processes - Resnais and Bunuel come immediately to mind. But with Malick, it seems, the cinema's similarity to the mental processes of memory, dream and conjecture, have ignited a wildfire of creativity that has advanced the film art at a greater pace than has occurred since the sixties.

Here I have to admit to being only at the beginning of being able to appreciate what seems to be dizzying complexities in the film. My French is not up to totally understanding much of Marina's dialogue which, as I am in France, was not translated in the subtitles, so I am sure I have missed an entire dimension of the film. But Olga Kurylenko's performance is so magnificent, that this 'comprehension gap' didn't seem a problem.

Then there is the obvious question of the film's theme. Love, the very 'different' nature of women, dislocation in the physical, emotional and cultural senses - these are all up there writ large. But they are mixed with a nagging worry that, to return to my earlier concern, Malick has stretched the cinema to its limits, but sometimes, maybe beyond them. I do not think of myself as stupid, but I found great difficulty in grasping the relevance of certain shots or scenes. I rest convinced, however that this is another example of a film that it is necessary to watch dozens of times to find all of the poetic and meaningful connections.

I have great sympathy with those who go to the cinema wanting to be told a great story in the clearest manner possible. That is honourable and reasonable, but it is not the only experience that the cinema, this great and wonderful art of the cinema, can give. And it is certainly NOT the case that films that don't take the more prosaic approach are pretentious, meaningless or boring. 'To the Wonder' is to popular cinema what lyric poetry is to airport novels. So, if that is all you are looking for, it is best to avoid Malick's film.

But for those of us who know that beyond the sky is the limit for great cinema, Malick and MNC is the route to the stars, and 'To the Wonder' is a step, if a somewhat halting one, along that route.