To the Wonder

To the Wonder is a 2012 American experimental romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, and Javier Bardem. Filmed in Oklahoma and Paris, the semi-autobiographical film chronicles a couple who, after falling in love in Paris, struggle to keep their relationship from falling apart after moving to the United States. The film premiered in competition at the 2012 Venice Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion Award. It received mixed reactions at its premiere in Venice but was awarded the SIGNIS Award at the same festival. The film continued to polarize critics upon its theatrical release, with many praising Malick's direction and Lubezki's cinematography, though finding the narrative emotionally unsatisfying.

Plot

Neil is an American traveling in Europe who in Paris meets and falls in love with Marina, a Ukrainian divorcée living with her ten-year-old daughter Tatiana. Basking in their new romance, the lovers travel to Mont St. Michel, the island abbey off the coast of Normandy. Neil commits to Marina, inviting her to relocate with Tatiana to his native Oklahoma. Neil takes a job as an environmental inspector, and Marina settles into her life in the United States. After some time, the couple's passionate romance cools. Marina finds solace with the Catholic priest Father Quintana, who is undergoing his own crisis of faith. Tatiana begins to feel homesick due to not having made friends at her school and complains that Neil is not her real father. Sometime later, Marina tells Neil that her visa has expired, and she and her daughter return to France.