The physician of cinema: Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life

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ABSTRACTThis article contends that, in contrast to the broadly metaphysical (or “transcendental”) reading with which he’s associated, Terrence Malick consistently makes nature, or physis, the subject of his films. Returning to the his critical reception, the essay begins by suggesting that Malick’s biography has been leveraged to credentialize philosophical approaches readily identified with Stanley Cavell and Martin Heidegger. By contrast, his directorial itinerary reveals a commitment to the natural world—to different milieus, habitats, ecosystems, and topographies—that culminates with The Tree of Life. Above all, the analysis turns on the latter’s “cosmobiogenesis” sequence, especially in light of an early draft of the film’s script. The article broadly considers the relation between cosmology and biology (i.e., an “anthropic principle”), singles out four biological concepts (symbiosis, predation, coevolution, and self-organization) that clearly inform the film, and analyzes the “evolution of empathy” in the notorious dinosaur scene. Finally, the essay examines the formal means with which the film envisions life: on the basis, it seeks to refute “metaphysical club” by conceiving of Malick as the physician of cinema.