"The Fountain" is director Darren Aronofsky's imaginative meditation on love, death and eternity. To the cynical, it may seem hopelessly romantic. To the conventional, it may seem hopelessly abstract. It's a film that was originially inspired by "The Matrix," but in reality it's a work reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."In fact, "The Fountain" is a beautiful, cinematic poem; a poem composed of gorgeous imagery and the interwoven strands of a distant past, an intimate present and a far-off future. Like a poem, its elements are built for artistic effect, not for a 'natural' narrative structure, and its images are symbolic, metaphorical and interpretational.
"The Fountain" tells the story of Tommy Creo and his terminally ill wife Izzi. He is a research scientist whose feverish work is to defy the inevitability of death and she is an imaginative writer, trying to gracefully accept her mortality. While Tommy has been immersed in the science of medicine with the hope of curing his wife's illness, Izzi has been writing a story entitled The Fountain, written lovingly on parchment, in which she is Queen Isabel of Spain and Tommy is her conquistador Tomás, a tale visualized onscreen. Izzi requests that Tommy write the last chapter of her story, and his resolution paves the way for some of the movie's most beautiful imagery as well as its most mysterious narrative moments, as events placed 500 years in the future are tied to the mythology of 500 years past.
The film may not be an immediately engaging one, for the fact that the past, current and future events are presented out of chronological sequence and that some of the symbolic images used may at first seem off-putting for their New Age associations. In the end however, this Rubik's cube of a film will reward patience as the pieces fit together in a dazzling visual display that's equal parts soul-food and eye candy.
Hugh Jackman offers his best work ever, displaying an extraordinary range of emotions and characterizations as the scientist Tommy, as the conquistador Tomás and as the space traveler Tom (whom the director explains was in part inspired by Major Tom of David Bowie's Space Oddity). Rachel Weisz displays her talent for expressing beautiful sadness and gentle resolve, and Ellen Burstyn is outstanding as the head of the research facility. Burstyn was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Darren Aronofsky's previous film, "Requiem for a Dream."
Aronofsky has invited viewers to reach their own conclusions regarding this ambitious and multifaceted work. Clues as to the director's intent are woven thoughout in visual and literary forms: repeated geometric themes reoccur in the three distinct time frames of the story (triangles in the past section represent divine harmony, rectangles in the present-day story are symbolic of materialism, circles in the future scenes are associated with eternity), and character names offer insights as well, as with the lead characters' name Creo: "creo " is taken from the latin word meaning "to create" and is referential to Tommy's alter ego as the "First Father" of Mayan myth, and to Izzi's role as the creator of "The Fountain."
How much of what we see is intended to be real? Where is the dividing line between Izzi and Tommy's fable and what they experienced together as soul mates? Is immortality attainable? Is reincarnation possible? The answers to those questions will be as unique and individual as each viewer of "The Fountain."
"The Fountain" (2006)
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Screenplay by Darren Aronofsky
Stars:
Hugh Jackman ............... Tomas - Tommy - Tom Creo
Rachel Weisz .................. Isabel - Izzi Creo
Ellen Burstyn ................... Dr. Lillian Guzetti
Mark Margolis .................. Father Avila
Stephen McHattie ........... Grand Inquisitor Silecio
Fernando Hernandez .... Lord of Xibalba
Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violent action, some sensuality and language.
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