The Fountain - A Warning and Some Thoughts

[andrewducker]

More than any other film, The Fountain reminds me of "The Wall". Not because of any musical similarities, or similarities in plot, dialogue, or theme, but because they both leave the comfortable area of "Movie as story" and become meditations upon a subject. In both cases the films are more designed to convey a set of emotions than they are to follow any particular narrative. Which isn't to say that they don't both have narrative - in fact The Fountain has a very simple storyline - but in neither case is the plot the point. Just be aware that expecting clarity of plot will leave you feeling dissatisfied.

The Fountain is a meditation on the subjects of death and loss, and how people react to them. It tells the intertwined stories of Tommy (Hugh Jackman) and Izzy (Rachel Weisz) in the year 1500, 2000 and 2500, as he searches for eternal life for himself and the one he loves. The methods of avoiding death vary from strand to strand, but the driving force behind Tommy's character remains the same. Slowly we discover how these stories are linked, as Tommy approaches his goal(s).

The film is poetic, visually incredible, and deeply spiritual in the same way that, say, 2001 is. It's not flawless by any means, but it haunts the mind, and I'm going to have to see it again before I feel at all comfortable to judge it fully.

The only thing I'd change is that in the present-day plotline I wouldn't have had the final results of the experiment turn out the way they did. It turns the outcome for Izzy into an accident of timing rather than a necessity of life. Cutting those 6 seconds from the film would have made it work significantly better for me.

Comments

[diotina.livejournal.com]

I think that sums up almost all my feelings about the film. Very well put.
In a meta way, I think the combination of the incredible beauty and music, that seem to appeal solely to the emotions might be Aronofsky's way of celebrating life and humanity, which is what makes it viably 'good art' for me.

[drjon.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, that was the movie that Pitt pulled from in prepro.

I'd like to see it.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Naahhhhh.

Too much woo woo, as zarabee said...:-P

[andrewducker]

I don't even know what that means.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

I thought it was Ozzie but apparently not, says Alison - it's sort of new age pseudo mystical stuff.

[andrewducker]

Aaaah - seems to be a conception some people have of the movie.

I didn't see any mystical stuff in it at all. All looked solidly real to me - except for the stuff that was explicitly fictional, or in his head.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

woo-woo adj. concerned with emotions, mysticism, or spiritualism; other than rational or scientific; mysterious; new agey. Also n., a person who has mystical or new age beliefs.

[andrewducker]

emotions, mysticism, or spiritualism

One of these things is not like the others.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Woo-woo, nevertheless, covers all three -- or even just one of them. Note the "or". :)

(I must hang around people who use these phrases, or something. my sense of the word has nuance, which makes it different from, say, "fluffy bunnyism", which might sound ostensibly similar, otherwise...)

[andrewducker]

My problem, then, would be that I dislike mysticism and spiritualism intensely, except when used (well) as metaphor, whereas I think that emotions are absolutely vital to pretty much any work of fiction.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

I agree.

Personally, I think there's certain kind of emotionalism -- priviledging emotion over all other forms of knowledge and elevating it to near-mystical levels -- which distinguishes woo-woo from emotional depth in films. The Fountain veered precariously close to the line, and then kinda leaped over it, and back again, willy nilly.

[andrewducker]

Aaah - I felt that the core of the movie was about emotion - with the question being "How does one deal with the death of a loved one?" and the emotional answer being the only one possible, so I wasn't too worried about that. Valuing emotion over reason in situations which are more reason-based, on the other hand, does piss me off.

The Fountain

[perrymason77.livejournal.com]

Andrew
saw the film last night and read your comments, there was only about 25 people in the cinema when it finished and not one person said a word or got up when the credits came on.

When we finally left I listened in om the conversations and it reminded me of of the discussions we all had after Jurassic Park back at your parents ages ago once we all watched it.

Found an interesting forum discussing the film

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=522647

have a look.

Re: The Fountain

[andrewducker]

It took people in my cinema until after the initial credits had run through. I didn't get to have vast conversations about it though, as I headed home at that point.

Cheers for the link too - I totally agree with what the first poster there says!

[neriedes.livejournal.com]

I loved it and you have pretty much summed it up. I'm surprised I haven't seen any promotional material for it though since it's a Darren Aronofsky film.