Long before we are shaped by the outside world, we are shaped by our families. They are the first mirrors we encounter, reflecting back our strengths, flaws, and deepest vulnerabilities. For Rick, the protagonist of Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, family is both a source of love and a source of pain. It is the foundation of his identity, yet it is also where his greatest wounds lie. As Rick drifts through the fragmented, dreamlike narrative of the film, his family looms large in his subconscious. They appear not only as individuals but as symbols—representations of his struggles with authority,