The cinema of entanglement: how not to contemplate Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder, Voyage of Time, and Knight of Cups

Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015), and Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey (2016) share a consistent use of theological and metaphysical references in voice-over narration. This paper frames the markedly spiritual and religious connotations of these 2010s films as an expression of a persistent teleological vision of time and history in contemporary settings. It argues that such vision is highly complicated and subverted by the films’ innovative formal and aesthetic elements. The analysis foregrounds the relevance of current scientific and philosophical notions of entanglement in Malick’s films and offers an ecocritical interpretation and application of some of the films’ formal and narrative complexities in contemporary settings