Watched closely, “The Tree Of Life” is like an orchestral suite that’s parsed over 7, maybe 8, movements depending on how you see the film (this is somewhat subjective, and at the same time, the film does fade to black several times to designate new chapters that seem to always start fresh with a new theme). To my personal reading, the original is roughly 7 movements, and the extended version is only 8, just an added adjunct suite rather than something much different, with expanded sections throughout. I’ll label them as such and as “chapters” just to make it simpler (and please excuse the pretentions here, none of this is official).
Chapter 1 – GRIEF
Chapter 2 – CREATION
Chapter 3 – LOVE
Chapter 4 – FATHER
Chapter 5 –MOTHER (NEW)
Chapter 6 –WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS
Chapter 7 –THE RETURN
Chapter 8 – GRACE (THE AFTERLIFE)
What’s fascinating about “The Tree Of Life (Extended Version”) is how the most memorable sequences of the film are largely the same in retrospect, but how much of it still feels new and alive. Chapter 2 (CREATION), the most famous section of the film with its awestriking creation of the universe interlude and Chapter 8 – the crescendo-ing and spiritual the Hereafter Beach (GRACE) where the O’Brien’s of all ages and their friends and families are reunited in a kind of luminous afterlife paradise.
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These movements are the most abstract moments of the film, perhaps the one that aggravated the less lenient filmgoer, maybe not accustomed to Malick’s ephemeral cadences. And they are virtually unchanged. Creation feels like such a long, expansive interregnum in the original ‘Tree Of Life.’ “Where did the story go?” the viewer asks. And yet, in the new version, compared to the expansion of the rest of the film, creation feels much smaller, dwarfed by the family, and their wounding dysfunctions.
CREATION is more or less exactly 17 minutes in each version of the film, a metaphoric abstraction of the movie’s “there are two ways through life, the way of Nature and the way of Grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow” theme (sorry, no new dinosaurs). GRACE is about a minute and a half longer in the extended cut give or take, but it’s curious to see Malick leave the most famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) sections of the film unchanged.
The most significant changes in the film arrive in the first section, Chapter 1 (GRIEF). It’s where the O’Brien’s learn their middle child R.L. has died (played by Laramie Eppler as a boy), and the elder Jack (Penn), decades later, continues to grapple with his grief and inconsolable sense of loss —but they are minor in the grander scope of the film. In the original version, Sean Penn gets all of 8 minutes to himself (the actor was notoriously perturbed how little screen time he ultimately received), not including the brief, fleeting moments where he appears throughout the film and the film’s conclusion. In the Extended Version, his opening introduction gets a 12-minute treatment (note: cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki once said a “whole other movie” about Sean Penn’s character could be made from the footage that was cut from the original theatrical version of the film. But don’t get your hopes up. This ain’t it).
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Overwhelmed by the vacuousness of his job and the modern world on the anniversary of his brother’s death, Penn’s Jack leaves the office and goes on a field trip of sorts. He wanders through a zoo, a botanical garden, and a natural history museum, all the while accompanied by an unidentified blonde woman (women) who he appears to be having an affair with (Pell James; and also Lisa Marie Newmyer***). There’s also a brief, darkening nightmare section where Penn’s character is chased and choked by a giant and a bunch of gangbangers on what appear to be the downtown streets of Austin, Houston, Dallas or wherever these scenes in Texas were shot. This section then leads to the Creation of Time, just like in the original film.
But despite these nice little new details, the film’s three most defining sections (GRIEF, CREATION, GRACE) have stayed the same. It’s the rest of the movie that’s changed… somewhat. In simplest terms, if you watched “The Tree Of Life” back in 2011, admired the film, but wished the movie focused a little bit more on the family, their connections, bonds and ultimately, emotional breakdowns, the Extended Version is for you… until it’s not. You have to be careful about what you wish for.
The new ‘Tree Of Life” expands its sense of love, grace, and family. It also spends a great deal of time re-underscoring just how bitter and resentful Pitt’s Mr. O’Brien is and how much Jack suffers through his father’s instinctual, sometimes cruel nature. LOVE, the O’Brien’s falling in love and discovering the wonder and joys of their babies as they grow to become young boys—is not much different either. It’s Chapter 4 – FATHER, a brief new CHAPTER 5 – MOTHER, and the interlinked CHAPTERS 6 & 7 (BUSINESS; THE RETURN), where the most prominent alterations occur.
FATHER
As it was in the original, FATHER centers on Mr. O’Brien’s cynicism and sourness at life and the raw deal he feels he’s been dealt. “The world lives by trickery, if you want to succeed, you can’t be too good,” he cautions his boys, a theme echoed several times: don’t let people walk over you.
There’s also a new scene with his father (Brían F. O’Byrne), a kind man he believed who was too naïve and taken advantage of. “I took my father for granted. He was a sweet man, I thought he was weak,” Pitt’s O’Brien says before noting that he has “left him in the street to die,” though it’s unclear if he’s being literal. This movement also fleshes out the small part in the film where Jack nurses a crush on a cute, quiet girl in his classroom, and the sadness these scenes imbue.
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MOTHER
Lovingly devoted to Jessica Chastain‘s Mrs. O’Brien, this newly added 10-minute section focuses on her family coming to visit, including a never-seen-before brother. MOTHER centers on what are essentially family chats—Mrs. Obrien’s mother (Fiona Shaw) returns again, following her appearance in Chapter 1, discussing how marriages deteriorate over time (“love fades, passion goes”) and her brother who comes for a visit. The latter is fairly illuminating with Mrs. O’Brien essentially complaining in frustration over her difficult husband. “Nobody likes him,” she says of his co-workers adding how he pushes people away and “turns people against him.” She also notes how he hasn’t paid taxes in three years and is thinking about getting a job. “He’s a good provider though,” she says, seemingly catching herself with too much negativity.
Later, she reveals to her brother, “I thought I would never marry, and no one would love me. I was wrong.” The extended moments with her brother are very telling. As the uncle to the boys, he’s extremely playful and fun; a refreshing source of male adoration and affection, a respite from their unsmiling, demanding dad. Mr. O’Brien becomes jealous and then essentially chases him off, making him feel unwanted by castigating him for a lack of job and thinking he can simply tour into their household and amuse the children.