Pacino and De Palma originally worked together on 1983's Scarface - a remake of a 1930s film - which saw Pacino portraya Cuban refugee who becomes a drug cartel kingpin in the US before his life gradually unravels.
Were I to portray this with a visual image it would have to be that of a boat in a lock: life is slowly and ineluctably raised by time seeping in from all sides.