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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.
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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