Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Darren Aronofsky
Cast :
Hugh Jackman……….Tomas/Tommy/Tom Creo
Rachel Weisz………..Isabel/Izzi Creo
It’s often interesting to see the sorts of films that Film Festivals have praised and dismissed over the years. This year featured two film getting wildly different reactions, as Clerks II received an eight minute standing ovation at Cannes this year. This is the same festival that roundly booed Pulp Fiction years ago, a film that would win the Palme d’Or as well as receive multiple Oscar nominations. Meanwhile at Venice The Fountain was roundly booed and met with indifference at several others. And while Clerks II was a good film, an eight minute standing ovation afterwards isn’t something one expects a festival held in as much regard as Cannes would give to a funny but relatively forgettable film from Kevin Smith. More puzzling is the resoundingly negative reaction to one of the yea’s best in the aforementioned The Fountain.
The Fountain follows three intermingled tales of love featuring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. In 1500 Spain, Jackman is Conquistador Tomas. Charged with finding a tree that contains to the secret to immortality by Queen Isabel (Weisz), we find him in the middle the New World with some violent Mayans interrupting his quest. In the modern day, Tommy (Jackman) is a research scientist looking to discover a drug that will help cure the terminal brain cancer his wife Izzi (Weisz) has. She’s also writing a book featuring Tomas and Queen Isabel. 500 years from the present, Tom (Jackman) flies towards a celestial event inside a bubble with a tree. All three stories are connected in ways that don’t become apparent until the film’s finale.
But the thing that stands out most of the film isn’t its trio of stories or the inherent metaphysical conjectures that arise from the film’s look at matters of life and death. It’s the film’s visuals that stand out the most in The Fountain. It’s interesting to note that director Darren Aronofsky didn’t use CGI for the film; most of his special effects used micro-photography of chemical reactions on Petri dishes instead of contemporary special effects used for most films. It gives the film a much different look than any other film this year; it looks more natural and less artificial as Aronofsky seamlessly blends them in to the reality of his world. It looks quite real and is wonderful; at times it almost taking away from the film’s multiple storylines.
And that’s the film’s glaring problem; the film needs a bit more of a deft touch at times than Aronofsky seems to have. The film’s storylines topple over on each other several times very noticeably; perhaps it’s the sort of epic scope he’s looking for or the film’s 96 minute running time.
While it isn’t handled as deftly as would be ideal, trying to go for something with this sort of epic scope is something Aronofsky should be commended for. The Fountain is essentially a rumination on the nature of death and mankind’s reactions to it over the years. Tomas is willing to do anything, include facing death, for the love of the queen. Tommy views death as something to be conquered, obsessing over a way to cure his dying wife to the point where it consumes him. Tom sees death as the inevitable conclusion to life, preparing for the time in which he can finally embrace it.
It wouldn’t work as well as it does if it wasn’t for a rather remarkable performance by Jackman. Playing three different characters who are all the same person is a feat not many actors can pull off; while the characters are different, they are also the same person. It’s a rather remarkable feat to be able to pull off this sort of acting performance.
