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A French Impressionist Critical Approach to Terrence Malick's Life in Movement: A French Impressionist Critical Approach to Terrence Malick’s Films By Matthew Sellers Johnson A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts in Film Victoria University of Wellington 2021 i ii Abstract Terrence Malick’s films from Badlands (1973) to The Tree of Life (2011) have generally received critical praise, as well as being the focus of detailed scholarly work. By contrast, his more recent films, what Robert Sinnerbrink refers to as the “Weightless trilogy” with To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015) and Song to Song (2017), have been widely criticised and have been largely neglected academically. This thesis endeavours to situate the aesthetic features of these three films within a conceptual framework based in French Impressionist film theory and criticism. I will argue the ways in which these three films use natural light, gestures, close- ups, kinetic images and complex editing in relation to Germaine Dulac’s notions of pure cinema and Jean Epstein’s concept of photogénie. Moreover, these ideas can also be applied to films such as Days of Heaven (1978), The Thin Red Line (1998) and The Tree of Life. Thus, it is my contention that despite the significant changes to his filmmaking style evident in the Weightless trilogy, he remains a highly poetic director interested in the interior lives of his characters and the rhythms of life. iii Acknowledgements The following thesis would not be possible without the academic and personal support of the following people. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Tim Groves for supervising this project. Your feedback, counsel and attention over the course of this difficult year has been invaluable. By extension, I wish to express gratitude towards the Film department for their support and accommodation during my time in Wellington, Aotearoa. For those across the globe, I would like to acknowledge Liza and Tim Palmer for their support and guidance in the early stages of this project. Moreover, the Film Studies department of the University of North Carolina Wilmington has been instrumental in my early education and academic foundation. In addition to the supportive folks from Wilmington, North Carolina, I wish to thank Anna, Dylan, Emma, Francisco, Gabby, Hunter, Joe, Michael, Paul, Rita and Will for their initial support for this personal endeavour. For your consideration, encouragement and friendship, I am ever grateful. For my family back in the North America, I am indebted to your continual support, letters and virtual calls which kept us connected during the ongoing trials of this year and last. For my friends, who I look forward to seeing again soon, thank you for sticking by me in my ambitions and foolhardy dreams. I cannot wait for our next adventures together. This work is dedicated especially to Don and Molly. Thank you for your love and patience. iv Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iv Contents ...............................................................................................................................v Introduction........................................................................................................................1 1. Germaine Dulac, Pure Cinema and Terrence Malick ...........................................................7 2. Jean Epstein and Malick’s Photogenic Strategies ................................................................39 3. Impressionist Aesthetics in The Tree of Life and Song to Song ..........................................70 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................97 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................102 Filmography .....................................................................................................................112 Image Appendix...............................................................................................................113 Note on the Text ..............................................................................................................114 v vi Introduction This project stems from a longstanding interest in Terrence Malick’s cinema. After the Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Life (2011), Malick directed a trio of contemporary films, To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015) and Song to Song (2017), which film philosopher Robert Sinnerbrink refers to as the “weightless trilogy” (TMFP, 161-162). These films, which are narratively fragmented and visually dynamic, have been less well-received than Malick’s previous work. Nevertheless, I have found these late Malick films to be provocative, engaging and suitable for scholarly attention. While watching Song to Song with colleagues we noticed that it includes a scene from the French Impressionist film Ménilmontant (1926). Having studied the French Impressionist film movement as an undergraduate, I began to consider the possibility of analysing Malick’s later films using the work of key figures such as Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein, especially in their respective writings on pure cinema and photogénie. However, as the thesis developed, it became evident that this conceptual framework can be applied across Malick’s films, as I hope to demonstrate here. The Weightless trilogy marks an interesting period in Malick’s career. Jack Fisk, his longstanding production designer, said after the release of The Tree of Life, “I think that by completing this long-planned and personal film, Terry has passed through a gate. It has opened up the possibility of new and experimental work –his post-Tree career” (Hintermann and Villa, 296). For one thing, his output has increased noticeably. Apart from his twenty-year hiatus from filmmaking after Days of Heaven (1978), Malick has typically released films in five to seven year intervals with his debut of Badlands (1973) coming five years before Days of Heaven. The Thin Red Line appeared in 1998, The New World in 2005 and then The Tree of Life in 2011. However, Malick has released five feature films in the decade following The Tree of Life, including the Weightless trilogy, his documentary Voyage of Time (2016) and A Hidden Life (2019). Despite this accelerated productivity, the Weightless trilogy has for the most part been poorly received, which contrasts with the reception of his previous films, which was generally positive. 1 The narratives of the Weightless trilogy are fragmented, even jumbled, so they demand more of viewers than his earlier films. They also include stylistic strategies more commonly associated with contemporary commercial filmmaking. Malick employs more mobile and handheld camerawork, as well as faster non-linear editing. These techniques, along with tight framings, amount to what David Bordwell calls “intensified continuity” (IC, 16-28).1 Malick’s use of this narrative and stylistic framework have made the films more kinetic, but less cogent. In other words, his intensified narrative style has become more taxing for viewers. While this approach has largely alienated audiences, I contend that Malick’s stylistic strategies evident in the Weightless trilogy have aesthetic value that merits further critical analysis. My primary research question will be: How can a French Impressionist conceptual framework be used to analyse Malick’s films? The French narrative avant-garde cinema of the 1920s was a key period concerning our historical and theoretical understanding of the cinematic medium. Beginning with a heightened interest in pictorialism in 1918, by 1922 France had become a fertile locale for film culture consisting of lecturers, writers, historians and filmmakers, with many indulging multiple roles (Matz, 113). The French Impressionists were a loose grouping of cinéastes, intellectuals and practitioners interested in the formal capabilities of film. They advocated for cinema as a distinct art form, partly in response to the increasing amount of Hollywood films screening in Europe. Jesse Matz claims: “In response, those who would become the practitioners and theorists of Impressionist cinema felt the need to develop a film aesthetic – an art that would merit its own financial support and compete with the Hollywood alternative” (Matz, 104). While there were many important figures during this time, such as René Clair, Ricciotto Canudo, Louis Delluc, Abel Gance, Dimitri Kirsanoff, Marcel L’Herbier and Léon Moussinac, this project will primarily deal with the theories and concerns of Dulac and Epstein. French Impressionist writers and filmmakers emphasized certain visual features of cinematic imagery as aesthetically important. They connected expressive movement to actors’ gestures, 1 I will discuss intensified continuity more in chapter two. 2 particular framings, kinetic movement of subjects and objects within the frame, shot relations, camerawork and the phenomena of light. As I will argue, Malick exercises similar cinematic techniques. I will draw on Dulac’s concept of pure cinema and Epstein’s notion of photogénie to address Malick’s films. While both terms are potentially slippery in their respective definitions, due to Dulac and Epstein’s
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