To The Wonder (2013)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Reviews Counted: 133
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 77
To the Wonder demonstrates Terrence Malick's gift for beautiful images, but its narrative is overly somber and emotionally unsatisfying.
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Critic Reviews: 40
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 27
To the Wonder demonstrates Terrence Malick's gift for beautiful images, but its narrative is overly somber and emotionally unsatisfying.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 4,329
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Movie Info
TO THE WONDER tells the story of Marina (Kurylenko) and Neil (Affleck), who meet in France and move to Oklahoma to start a life together, where problems soon arise. While Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, Neil renews a relationship with a childhood sweetheart, Jane (McAdams). Bold and lyrical, the film is a moving, gorgeously shot exploration of love in its many forms. Written and directed by Terrence Malick.(c) Official
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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 Rogers 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 -
Greg Elliot
Parish Council Presiden... -
Michael Bumpus
Doctor -
Lois Boston
Lois -
Danyeil Inman
Homeless Woman -
Bobby Davis Horsley
Convict -
Wigi Black
Lori -
Ashley L. 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 Sophia Johnson
Carhop -
Bruce Peabody
Lawyer -
Tamar Baruch
Stepmother -
Michael Anderson
Visitor -
Darren Patnode
DEQ Investigator
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To The Wonder Trailer & Photos
All Critics (133) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (56) | Rotten (77)
The movie plays like an undercooked pie that hasn't had enough time to cool and settle.
Top CriticEssentially it's an agglomeration of Malick's worst stylistic annoyances.
A thing of great beauty, but not much more.
We should not be exiting a Terrence Malick movie with a shrug, but there it is.
Chary of exposition, meagre of plot, derisory of dialogue, indifferent to comprehension, it's a project that veers perilously close to self-parody.
Mostly, it's solemn intonations of bad poetry over open-field twirling scenes and long serious looks of love, tenderness and cosmic understanding.
Terrence Malick is to light as Orson Welles was to shadow: the master.
Indisputably comes off as a minor work on the heels of Malick's The Tree of Life but still holds enough of interest for the initiated.
Malick succeeds in creating his a separate reality, one drenched with longing and fear.
Trying to hold onto any part of it is like trying to catch meringue in a baseball glove.
Fragmentary to the point of being formless and devoid of any motivation or momentum, it's the first of Malick's works to feel more like a sketchbook than a film.
It looks great, the sound is interesting, the actors are doing what they are asked to do, but it didn't hit me the way The Tree of Life did. For fans only.
Any half-serious filmgoers need to see "To the Wonder" for themselves; it remains the product of a fascinating mind.
If you have the ability to ignore Affleck, To the Wonder is a visual stunner, with a surprising transcendental enthusiasm for everything.
Gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki almost makes 'To the Wonder' worth seeing. Unfortunately, director/writer Terrence Malick fails to flesh out this drama with a plot we can follow.
Malick, who is obviously unconcerned with his film's commercial success, continues to work with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and together they have grown immensely fond of long, lovely shots of nature.
Malick's films are more self-indulgent than other filmmakers. He is enamored with his own camera work, and whether or not his subject matter is germane to the story is largely up to the viewer.
While it may be filmed beautifully, To the Wonder doesn't exactly move its gestating 112-minute duration along any faster with everyone on-screen galloping around their front yard or a field full of slow moving bison genitalia.
Frankly, To The Wonder becomes bogged and down and more than a little bit boring over the course of its two hours.
Once the shock of seeing a Sonic Drive-In in a Malick film wears off, the movie leaves little to ponder beyond the sketchily drawn romance drama at its core.
Audience Reviews for To The Wonder
Super Reviewer
Kurylenko is utterly captivating, and Emmanuel Lubezki is a master of his craft; insanely good cinematography.
Super Reviewer
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- Marina: I write on water what I dare not say.
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- Father Quintana: You shall love, whether you like it or not.
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Guess the Tomatometer / Ebert's Review | 26 days ago | 12 |
| rotten tomato | 31 days ago | 9 |
Latest News on To The Wonder
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May 15, 2012:
Terrence Malick's Next Gets a TitleThe R-rated romantic drama, which stars Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams, is called "To the Wonder."
December 28, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- A la merveille (FR)
Good Film! To The Wonder is a visually and aurally stunning experience but this outweighs narrative and emotional engagement, leaving it a bit cold where it tries to be all-encompassing warm. Amidst this metaphysical and highly personal journey Malick gives us not only a sense of the "wonder of love" but also celebrates our sense of wonder in general. Our ability to be overwhelmed by our emotions for another person, nature or even God. "To the Wonder" is a film about faiths in many shapes and strives for that forgiveness that elates our disappointments and resentments in order to finally love in a state of personal liberty and acceptance. A movie for a few with a theme for everybody.
Neil (Ben Affleck) is an American traveling in Europe who meets and falls in love with Marina (Olga Kurylenko), an Ukrainian divorcée who is raising her 10-year-old daughter Tatiana in Paris. The lovers travel to Mont St. Michel, the island abbey off the coast of Normandy, basking in the wonder of their newfound romance. Neil makes a commitment to Marina, inviting her to relocate to his native Oklahoma with Tatiana. He takes a job as an environmental inspector and Marina settles into her new life in America with passion and vigor. After a holding pattern, their relationship cools. Marina finds solace in the company of another exile, the Catholic priest Father Quintana (Javier Bardem), who is undergoing a crisis of faith. Work pressures and increasing doubt pull Neil further apart from Marina, who returns to France with Tatiana when her visa expires. Neil reconnects with Jane (Rachel McAdams), an old flame. They fall in love until Neil learns that Marina has fallen on hard times.