Dear Mr. Malick,

My name is Olivier, I'm 32, from France, and for the past 5 years, I have been self-producing my first feature film Ψ (psi). I wanted to reach out to you because this passion project was in large part initiated by my experience watching your films. And so I wanted to thank you for the inspiration you've given me and share the project with you (the film is at the bottom of the page).

Ψ is an experimental film exploring the question of choice, free will and our place in the universe. It tells the story of the 5 parallel lives of the same person, set across 5 countries (Paris, London, Jerusalem, Helsinki and Los Angeles), featuring intellectuals such as Dan Dennett, Max Tegmark and Barry Schwartz, and exploring landmark works of contemporary art. Here is the trailer:

Your influence on this film and on my own trajectory has been consequential. Back in 2014, I was preparing for a PhD in philosophy at La Sorbonne, but my instinct was urging me to not set aside my lifelong passion: film. So I found a way to combine both in this project. Viewing your films at the time, and in particular The Tree of Life, provided me with great belief that it was possible to create films that are ambitious and complex in their themes yet intimate and artful in their execution. And this is a goal I pursued with Psi, with the challenge of making it on my own time and resources, as a way of testing the limits of what was possible. Throughout this whole adventure, I have been keeping notes about my experience (they will constitute either a book or a long-form blog that will supplement the film), and I'd like to share with you the following extract:

"But perhaps the film that influenced me the most in making Psi is Terrence Malick’s Tree of life. This film was actually a turning point for my appreciation of film as an art form. When it came out in 2011, I was working as an usher at the Odeon movie theatre in Leicester Square and therefore had free tickets to go and see any movie I wanted. One night, I took my girlfriend to see Tree of Life. At the time, for whatever reason - age, immaturity, the pressures of date night - we weren't ready for it and walked out half way through. A couple years later though, when living in Argentina, I came across Tree of Life again, and this time, I can’t explain why, I sunk right into it and drifted along for 140 minutes like I was being carried on a gentle river. I mentioned how for several years before I had distanced myself from cinema, powering through other avenues as though looking for some holy grail that never seemed to get any closer. Watching the Tree of life that Sunday afternoon put me back on track. It was the first film in years that actually made me think of my life far beyond the final credits. Its general feel stayed with me and to this day, I often catch myself experiencing a moment as though somehow it was in Malick’s world, with the same pace and movement. A few months later, I was returning to France and setting my sights on making Psi. As I developed the film, particularly in the editing phase and when I was writing the narrator’s lines, I made several  references to Tree of Life, because in a way, I like to think of Psi as a sort of response to it – both are asking many of the same questions, but exploring very different paths to answer them."

The film is now almost complete. Last April, MIT held a test screening and I was glad to see that the reception was positive. I'm not sure what will come of all this yet (festivals? platforms?), and I'm still currently working on securing an actress to do the final voice narration.

But throughout it all, I continue watching your films for inspiration and they keep me going and wanting more.

Below you can see the full film (password is psi2018). If you have any comments, suggestions or words of advice, it would mean the world to me to be able to exchange with you.

Thank you for your time,

Olivier
[email protected]
+33.(0)6.51.53.53.62.

Full Film (password: psi2018)

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