Running time: 96 minutes
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Mark Margolis, Stephen McHattie
Rating 7 out of 10
It's hard to know what to make of The Fountain. With his enigmatic films Pi and Requiem For A Dream, writer and director Darren Aronofsky has proven himself an original and visionary filmmaker. It seems even Aronofsky is reluctant to commit himself to explaining The Fountain. Following a recent screening, someone suggested to the director that the film was about time travel, to which Aronofsky essentially replied that it was about whatever the viewer wanted it to be about. Perhaps the closest it comes to revealing itself is in the opening moment when it quotes from the Bible's Genesis 3.24: "He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life." And if that doesn't help, then there's the tagline "What if you could live forever?" The Fountain is an interweaving story about one man's journey through time on a quest to find the secret of eternal life.
The film possesses a haunting quality, captured through its mystical undertones, dark hues and a prevailing sense of isolation. Moving between medieval times, modern day and the future, The Fountain is also a tale of enduring love. The lovers are the same people, although through the centuries their names and circumstances change.
As a 16th Century conquistador, Tomas (Hugh Jackman) has been sent by the Spanish Queen Isabel (Rachel Weisz) to seek out the mythical Fountain Of Youth with the promise that success will make him her King. In the present day chapter, Tommy is a scientist who is desperately trying to find a cure for his dying wife Izzy. While the future thread has Tom as a 26th century astronaut floating through deep space in a clear bubble containing the tree of life while being haunted by visions of Izzy.
The scenes of space, with the meditative bald-headed Tom sitting in Lotus surrounded by his Eden-like garden, have a spiritual awe. Their beauty is enhanced by their silence. They are in stark contrast to the loud, bloody battles Tomas undertakes in his quest. Emphasising the differing ways man goes about trying to achieve the same results is one of The Fountain's oblique themes.
The Fountain is more a film of ideas than people. Information about its central characters is all but non-existent which makes them harder to identify with and, as a consequence, less engaging. But Jackman and Weisz are commanding enough to hold our attention while we join them on their lasting journey. It's an odyssey that has long obsessed man. "Death is like a disease and I will find a cure," declares Tommy. The Fountain doesn't offer any new theories about the existence of eternal life, but it offers a fascinating look at some age old ones.
Kevin Murphy
