The Fountain

"The Fountain" is the fifth film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky; "Pi" and "Requiem For A Dream" being the best known of his earlier films. "The Fountain" has suffered a troubled history - it was originally slated for production in 2002 as a big budget vehicle ($75m) for Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but 'creative differences' between Pitt and Aronofsky lead to the production being shut down. Aronofsky then kick-started the project again in 2004 with a smaller budget ($35m) and two new lead actors.

I have a problem writing about this film for the simple reason that I didn't understand it... At the point where I thought I had a good idea of what was going on, the carpet was pulled from under my feet and I ended up leaving the cinema utterly confused.

So what I do know? The film is told through three interwoven story lines set over three time periods: the past, the present and the future. The two main actors Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz appear in all three stories as Tomas/Tommy/Tom and Isabel/Izzi respectively. In the past a Spanish conquistador is on a quest to find the Tree of Life supposedly worshipped by the Mayans, in the present a doctor is looking for a cure for brain tumours (which may come from a rare tree from South America) to save his dieing wife and in the future a man is travelling through space in a giant terrarium with a dieing tree to a nebula (that the Mayans called Xibalba) in order to give it new life.

My confusion comes around what, in the context of the film, is 'real' and what is 'fiction'. The past story line may be fiction, maybe it's the past and the future that are imagined, perhaps it's all real...

Despite my incomprehension of "The Fountain", it was an engaging film. The main performances were strong (and this comes from someone who isn't a Rachel Weisz fan), it is visually stunning (Aronofsky used micro-photography of chemical reactions for the film's nebular effects rather than CGI to give it an organic feel) and Clint Mansell's score compliments the emotions of the film well. Like "Pi" I suspect that this film will probably make more sense following a second viewing.