I had no intentions of writing any sort of review for this film. It is over a year old now, and it is not relevant to the current release schedule. I try and only write reviews of films that are currently open. But this film arrived via NetFlix and I pushed it into the DVD player like any other.
And then something happened…
This is a rare film that touched me in a rare way. So rare that I can only recall one other film even coming close to having the same impact on me. (Which film was that? I’ll make you wait until the end.)
“The Fountain” is a film that is difficult to describe. In fact, I’d say it’s impossible; pure folly. It can’t be done without the description sounding completely and utterly ridiculous.
“The Fountain” is the rarest of films. It is ambitious, beautiful, multi-layered, and difficult to follow on the first viewing. It is a rich story with more elements than you will grasp upon the first glimpse. And therein lies its power: it is such a deep, complex, layered piece of work that words do not even begin to do it justice. It requires the visuals (and repeated viewings) for full appreciation to take effect. In fact, it requires even more than that: it requires conversation. It requires debate with other people who have seen it. Then, and only then, can it really be appreciated for what it is.
To say that “The Fountain” doesn’t follow the conventions typical of most films is an understatement. Is it a science fiction story? Yes, but not as you know science fiction. Is it a love story? Yes, it is that too, but not as you know love stories. “The Fountain” is something else entirely.
I said describing it is pure folly. It is, but I have to begin somewhere.
“The Fountain” is the story of Tom (Hugh Jackman) and Izzy (Rachel Weisz). Izzy is dying; she has a brain tumor. Tom is her husband. He also happens to be a research doctor who is trying to find a cure for the tumor. His experiments on monkeys have lead to an amazing discovery. Trapped inside the bark of a tree seems to be a way to stop aging…
But that is only one story, and already I have misrepresented what “The Fountain” is. It is not the story of Tom and Izzy. It is actually three different stories about Tom and Izzy, in three different time periods, told together in one film. That there are three stories inside this film is enough to confuse some viewers. That director Darren Aronofsky cuts back and forth between all three stories without warning, using techniques that purposely blur the differences, makes it even more difficult. But that is part of the art of the film.
The other two stories take place in different times. The second story – and the one the film opens with – is the story of Tomas the conquistador searching for the biblical “Tree of Life” hidden among the Aztec empire in a lost temple. Tomas has been sent there by the Spanish queen, Isabelle, during a time of great trouble in the Spanish empire. This story is a fiction, however, and Aronofsky doesn’t let us flounder in confusion too long before revealing to us that it is the work of Izzy, who is writing a book called “The Fountain”. There are parallels between the fiction of “The Fountain” and Izzy’s real world, as Tom discovers when he reads her manuscript.
Then there is a the third Tom. Tom Creo, traveling through space 500 years in the future, in a spaceship that looks like a glass bubble. The ship contains only a tree, Tom, and Tom’s ghosts. Tom passes time in the bubble ship by doing Tai Chi, giving himself tatoos, and conversing with his ghosts. He stays alive by eating from the bark of the tree… Is this story a fiction or real? This is part of the debate of the film…
I’ve described the three stories, and as I thought would happen I’ve done nothing to convey the power of this film. I am convinced it cannot be done with the written word.
The power of “The Fountain” comes not from the three individual stories, but from how they are woven together by Aronofsky to create the larger fabric. All three stories work on their own in small, specific ways, but woven together they achieve something entirely new, and you begin to see themes overlap and ideas emerge, and then the power of the whole story begins to take hold and you realize that there is a lot more going on than what seemed to be at first. By the end of the film you’re not 100% sure what you just saw, but you know there’s more to it, and you’ll want to discover what else is out there.
The movie does not explain everything. It is not a film for the dull or slow of mind. It does not lead you down a singular path. Some portions of the story are open to interpretation by the end credits. But “The Fountain” is not really about clear cut answers. It is about impact; it is about creating emotion in the audience, and given the right audience member, it does this very well.
I should mention one other thing: “The Fountain” has some of the most jaw-dropping beautiful special effects I’ve ever seen on film. The budget for “The Fountain” was small, so to create the effects they used a technique called “micro-photography”. I do not know what that is or what it entails, only that it created imagery like I have never seen before.
I wrote at the beginning of this review that I’ve never been this affected by a film before, except once. There was another science fiction love story that I’ve seen that had a similar impact, but not nearly as great as “The Fountain.” That film was Steven Soderbergh’s “Solaris.”
“Solaris” had some powerful ideas, and I left that film feeling quietly giddy; happy that a director had created a love story with that much thought and depth, without all the cliches and predictability of similar stories. But I did not ponder on it nearly as long as I did with “The Fountain”. With “The Fountain”, I turned off the DVD player and went to bed, and for the next two days I couldn’t get it out of my head. I thought about every aspect of it, every idea, every theme, every moment, every visual, and when I finally felt like I had digested it fully, I felt in awe. The only thing I could think was, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“The Fountain” is not a perfect film. Some of the transitions between the stories make it overly difficult to follow, and some of the obscurity simply isn’t necessary. Fifteen minutes into it I thought for sure I was seeing a total bomb. But while it may not be a great film, it is a powerful one. The themes and ideas in it are strong and thought provoking, and the love between these two people is of a magnitude that is incredibly rare. You will leave this film thinking that every man should be lucky enough to have an Izzy, and every woman should be lucky enough to have a Tom.
And if you’re really fortunate, you’ll leave this film with your head spinning, your brain fully engaged, and your senses overloaded. And you’ll be happy.