The Fountain

This film is stunningly beautifully visually, and the acting is absolutely phenomenal. It's very imagery heavy - one of the first thing I noticed was the incorporation of vines/branches throughout; a subtle hint that everything was connected. There were also candles hung in the throne room of the Queen, making them appear as the stars that surround the bubble the main character is in in one of the three narratives.That being said, I didn't find the story to be a very coherent whole. I'll try not to spoil anything, but there's a good chance I might as I go into a little more detail.This story contains three narratives.The first is of a scientist desperately seeking a cure for his wife's cancer. This part of the story is very coherent and relatively easy to follow - and it deals with a subject many people know well; loss. Tommy, the scientist, becomes angry and grieved in turns as he tries to cope with his wife's impending death, working himself hard to try and discover a cure. Meanwhile, his wife Izzi has come to accept her fate, and tries to get her husband to see why she isn't afraid of dying. She seeks meaning through Mayan myth, specifically the story of the "First Father" sacrificing himself to create the world - "death being used as a path to creation".Which leads into the second narrative - a conquistador in service to the Spanish Queen Isobel sent to discover the fountain of youth. It's important to remember that this narrative is a story written by Izzi - I see a lot of reviews referencing reincarnation, but the events in the story didn't necessarily happen. And if you pay close attention, the story is an allegorical representation of what it happening to Izzi with her cancer. Spain is being taken over by the Inquisitor - he represents the provinces he's taken over by coloring them in with red paint (or maybe blood, not really specified - and painting over the map with your hand instead of a paintbrush seems super inefficient). This to me seems like a clear representation of the cancer taking over her body - and since the Queen is referred to as Spain itself, the connection is rather clearly drawn. Tomas the Conquistador's quest for the fountain of youth is also a clear parallel to Tommy's search for a cure.The third narrative is the one I can't seem to place. It features Hugh Jackman with a shaved head in a bubble floating through space with a tree. Some of the imagery is spot on - the close up of the tree's bark shows fine filaments, making it resemble the close up shots of Izzi's neck. At one point one of the branches even transforms into Izzi's arm in a transition shot - obviously, Izzi is the tree. Hugh Jackman's character talks to the tree as well, and is constantly saying "we're almost there, just a little more" - another link to Tommy's research. And the place this tree is going is a nebula wrapped around a dying star that the Mayans believed to be their underworld - tying in Izzi's story, where she used the Mayan mythology alongside the Christian legend of the fountain of youth.Now, examining this third narrative, I think it may perhaps represent Tommy's mind or soul - the surreal quality, the imagery, and the way it jumps between the two narratives seems to suggest it's the bridge between the two. But for me, it didn't seem to add anything to the story - in fact, it felt more detracting as I tried to understand how it fit into the whole. The other two narratives were very coherent, with a clear plot and imagery that was clear to the viewer - the tree bubble was incoherent and ultimately confusing, as I - like others - aren't sure what his breaking through the barrier was meant to represent. I recognized that when the "ring" from the barrier - broken by the explosion of the dying star in the nebula - Hugh Jackman's character was in the same position as the First Father was on the display that Izzi pointed out to Tommy. And then the tree that represented Izzi - which had died - rose up to engulf him, further completing the imagery tying Hugh Jackman's character to the image of the First Father. I just don't know what it was supposed to mean.Yes, the Mayan legend was about creation coming out of death - but Tommy didn't die. He wasn't even emotionally closed off - during the course of the film, he was in a typical grieving state. Angry, sad, in denial - there was very little to suggest that Tommy had cut himself off in any way - so there's no allegorical death, either. And I don't believe this story is about reincarnation because the scenes from the "past" were Izzi's story - not actual events. And given the rather blatant use of Mayan mythology, I wouldn't connect this film with Buddhism right away, either. In fact, I'm just not sure what I was supposed to get out of this film.This film ends with Tommy burying a seed over Izzi's grave - a connection to a conversation they'd had earlier about a tree growing over someone else's grave and them becoming part of the tree. I don't see this as reincarnation, but rather a carry on of the Mayan mythos of creation out of death - he didn't become the tree, he became part of the tree. And, as the tree represents Izzi, if you take a comment the shaved head Hugh Jackman said - "I'm going to die" - this could mean that Tommy found peace in his wife's death by realizing that when he died, they would be together again. Just like shaved head Jackman being engulfed by the tree after the star explosion - becoming a part of it in death.So, while I can connect all the pieces into a relatively clear picture, I'm still not sure what this film was about, or what I was supposed to get out of it. I didn't have a very emotional reaction to the film - the jumping around between narratives and sorting out the imagery and allegory made it hard to connect to Tommy and Izzi before being whisked away somewhere else. I had very little attachment to the relationship of the Queen and Conquistador, and most of the background characters in both narratives are hardly touched upon. So when Tomas is betrayed by one of his men, it was hard to feel all that bad about it - all I knew was that Tomas was the Captain and the betrayer worked for him and thought the quest was pointless. Tommy's team of scientists have their moments, but we know very little about any of them. I'm not sure if this is meant to represent how Tommy was cutting himself off, but it seemed more like there just wasn't very shown of them together - with one exception, though even the exception has very little explanation as to why she's the exception. She doesn't feature in Izzi's story, so there's no connection to draw to indicate their relationship past the woman being Tommy's boss.At the end of the film, I was mostly wondering what I was even supposed to feel. Was this a story about accepting loss? If so, the message doesn't seem to have come across very clearly. Was this a story about how we deal with grief? About finding meaning in death? I honestly can't tell. I know that there was a message trying to be portrayed, I just don't know what that message was.Perhaps I need another watch though, but the feelings I'm left with are that while this film was beautifully made, with a wonderful soundtrack and phenomenal acting, I don't know what I was supposed to get out of it - not the feeling or the message. It's not a bad film, but it is one that seems to lack clarity or purpose.

This movie has so many things happening!! I can't say enough. The contrast between stages of evolution of spirit of the main Character (Hugh Jackman) and the cameraship that portrays perfectly the mirroring synchronicities and parallels between layers of the self. If I were to add another layer, albiet perhaps a bit too M. Night Shamylan's style, it would be one of the author/writer at the end of the movie writing this story and their life.All around, A+ for incredible performances, camera work, story building, for only 90minutes it feels like there is so much depth that it's much longer than this. Truly an amazing work of art.Also, the amount of hidden knowledge in this film is absolutely incredible, every time I watch this I see more. The parallels between Egyptian and Mayan religion, I had no clue, I wouldn't have even made the connection if it weren't for this movie. The Aten the middle way. Ego and Self, matter and mind and spirit, life and death, knowledge and wisdom. Whoever made this is genius!!! beyond words!!!

The FountainI'm reminded of what I believe was a Charlie Rose, or maybe it was a magazine article, where either a doctor or a futurist made a reference to western culture's fixation on curing death, as if it were a curable disease like any other and not an inevitability. That this potentially poisons ourselves and through extreme fear & grief impedes our ability to be in-the-now is something eastern cultures seem to have come to grips with long ago. I found the subject matter heartfelt and do not have a problem saying "This film moved me." Because it did.Thank goodness The Orleans Casino had a gal who knew what she was doing with the projector. There was some problem with the shutter not opening all the way at the beginning of the film, but eventually we got it worked out and the bottom half of the print became fully lit in all its glory. Those efforts were well rewarded. I found The Fountain visually stunning and did not at any time find it to be silly, though it has quite a few moments of abstract and open-endedness to it. For instance, why is the nebula bringing life back to this tree? Maybe I missed a part during the efforts to fix the shutter, but it seemed as if we are simply left to assume the power of the tree and the nebula are connected. The tree's life-giving abilities have been nearly used-up by this doctor who obviously has taken advantage of them and stayed alive far, far into the future. So far, in fact, that his space ship appears to us as simply an elastic, transparent bubble that is capable of making new bubbles (space ships) around him at will. We have no idea how it works, but it clearly does...at least to those viewers who allow the film to be what it is and make an initial and respectful suspension of disbelief to allow its own rules to be established and worked within. I think a caveman would say the same for my computer screen. So we are cavemen to this futureman. The technology is so advanced as to be, not to be redundant, literally and figuratively totally simple, elastic, and transparent to its end-user. Neat concept. Can any of you think of a better way to illustrate the ultimate technology of the far future? I can't.Interestingly, because this new tree was planted on her grave, she is somehow now a part of it. This is a call-back from an earlier set-up accomplished by a story she previously told. Through eastern meditation and consuming of the bark, he appears to be reliving the elements of his past, reminiscent of Wim Wender's meandering and overly-long Until The End of The World. As in that film, this virtual living in the past is a kind of egotistical black hole of stagnation. Here I think it works better, since we as the audience are brought along on the narrative by his re-experiencing of the events from the very beginning, rather than it being a secondary structure at the end. Quite a number of people seem to think the conquistador thread was an actual historical past for the film characters, but forget that it is Izzi's book as "visualized" by Tommy as he reads (or read), and who injects he and his wife into the central characters. This historical allegory of unfinished novel, the past when he was a doctor, and the present-future are all three intertwined. The futuristic returning to the Garden of Eden to partake of the Tree of Life creates a new Adam and Eve, I think, both immortal in different ways. By doing so he has lost his perspective, though.I found the duality curious that eastern meditation was both the key to exploiting this endless reliving in the first place with the Izzi-tree and the means to bring himself to end it, by finally visualizing a suitable ending to his wife's book. In order to re-attain wisdom and appreciate once more the true reality and, indeed the past-nature of, that beautiful relationship once more outside of this clouded, emotionally-distorted & fixational abyss of immortality, there is only one thing the doctor can do: partake of the Tree of Wisdom, which is death. In this way, just as the novel took on characteristics of their lives, life also takes on characteristics of a story, which is one way to find solace in mortality if that is something you are willing to accept, where life has a beginning, middle, and an end, yet is perfect in its own completeness.Viewing The Fountain is not a passive experience, intellectually or emotionally, and you no doubt will bring a great deal of baggage on its subjects of love, death, immortality, consciousness, and eastern thought. I suspect the strongest feelings will oddly enough be on that last item, even though it is only a tool and framework to explore the rest. I can see quite a few people being turned-off seeing a bald Hugh Jackman floating in the lotus position to his literal and figurative finale. Is it silly? I don't think so. Gene Siskel once leaned over to Roger Ebert during their first screening of Fargo and whispered, "This is the reason I go to the movies." The Fountain made me remember why I go to the movies.

It wasn’t the best of his films, but it was still great. I hadn’t seen it for years, so rewatching it made me appreciate it a bit more.

This is a frustratingly difficult film to give a review of simply because you have to abandon any attempt to analyse it and just immerse yourself in what is going on. Stick with it and accept the jumping around of time frames and you will be rewarded with a simply remarkable and extremely moving story. I would certainly not describe Hugh Jackman or Rachel Weisz's performance as wooden-far from it - Jackman's portrayal of a man haunted by the loss of his wife is gut-wrenching. I simply cannot understand all the hate for this movie. I found it to be a profound meditation on love and loss and a film that stands up to repeated viewings. Seems to be a "love it or hate it" kind of film - each to their own, it would be a boring world if we all loved or hated the same things!

Of all the films I have seen, and I've seen a lot of films, this is the best. Why ? It surprises, it's beautiful, has great music, a great story, very good actors and a suberb director who keeps everything in balance. On top of that good special effects that truly support the story. What ever you want in a film, is in this film. True love, true understanding, true life. The dying woman, who understands life the best of all the people in the stories. The man who finally understands what it means to die.What is truely great about this film, is that it works perfectly well from every point of view. It works wel from a metaphysical point of view, but it also works great as a straight forward story. What has always surprises me is the fact that most people don't understand this straight forward story.SPOILER ALERT !!!!Well, for those who want to know: The woman in the present day story, writes a book, that she cannot finish because she is mortally ill. She asks her husband to "finish if". The story she has written, is the story of the conquestador who has to find the tree of life. It's the husband who writes the future story, combining the place of rebirth from the Aztec (in the conquestador story) with the actual travelling to that place by the man in the future story.By the way: The tree in the spaceship is not the tree of life. The husband also writes a little present day story, in which he plants a seed on the grave of his wife. That seed becomes the tree. The tree is the home of the soul of his wife. Therefore in the future he eats from the tree, because his wife's soul (her love) keeps him alive. That is why that tree is aboard the spaceship. That is why he is going to the special place of rebirth. He wants to revive his wife's soul. But close to completing his mission, the tree dies. Finally the man learns, that life is final. Life isn't forever. "Finish it": His wife's words finally gets there double meaning in all the stories, combining them, ending them . "Finish it"!!!

I watched this ten years ago, when a work colleague lent it to me on DVD. My wife and I watched it with a sense of bemused wonderment at the time.Now ten years later, having recently suffering two family bereavements , one through cancer, watching this film, its meanings about life and mortality are really poignant. Hugh Jackman and Rachael Wei are superb as the ill fated couple, destined to lose each other, yet do they?I've seen Cloud Atlas recently, but where it was a Hollywood blockbuster, with big stars, I found it a bit overblown and pretentious. The Fountain on the other hand, is anything but, really making you think about life and why we should seize the day, especially with our loved ones.Its plot still leaves my wife and I bemused at its ending, but the whole film resonates in the mind.It won't be to everyone's tastes as director Darren Aronofsky doesn't lead his audience by the nose in this film, so you are required to engage with it . However if you go with its flow, you'll not be disappointed.

I bought this due to seeing lots of hype online claiming it to be so much better than originally thought to be so I thought I’d check it out but was disappointed to find just a kind of boring and weird film, I’m not saying don’t buy it and try for yourself but I will say don’t get your hopes up too much.

The fountain has three plots, a Conquistador looks for the tree of life, a scientist struggles to save his dying wife, and......... whatever that tree in a bubble thing was. The stories are interwoven in a cloud atlas esque style, although more closely, with dreams, visions, a weird photo shot etc, the director goes out of is way to interlink the stories with a very unique style of filming. The Visuals of the film are lush and breathtaking, especially when most have been used without the use of Cgi, apparently the Xibalba nebula is actually chemical reactions under a microscope, and it looks absolutely incredible. Jackman and Weisz give extremely strong performances, as do most of the minor characters. The film also has an incredible soundtrack by Clint Mansell, The story is done in such a way that the viewer is never entirely sure whether what they are watching is actually real, and the final result is seemingly designed specially to make viewers ponder it. All in all an excellent purchase.