Thomas and Steven discuss the spiritual and social themes of The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick’s 2011 coming-of-age of drama with a cosmic background. They unpack the narrative’s biblical references to Genesis and Job, and Steven describes the film’s resonances with Augustine, Freud, and Dostoevsky. Analyzing the film’s dichotomy between a motherly “way of grace” and a fatherly “way of nature,” they disagree about whether The Tree of Life‘s critiques of 1950s American family life are biblical or aligned with standard Hollywood worship of the divine feminine.

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